Can some of our resident meteorologist explain this? NOAA says Irene was a hurricane that made land fall with 85mph winds, but private sector weather services say it came ashore with 33mph winds. Who is telling the truth? The latest word is that NOAA is revising their wind speeds because there was a sharp drop off between upper level wind speeds and those recorded on the ground. What is the scuttle-butt inside the industry?

http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/noaas-phony-hurricane-coming-on-shore-with-33-mph-winds/


NOAA’s Phony “Hurricane” Coming On Shore With 33 MPH Winds
Posted on August 27, 2011 by stevengoddard
[Update : NOAA has lowered their initial estimate of wind speed due to a "sharp discrepancy" between airplane and surface data. http://weather.herald.com/]

——————————————————————————————————-

NOAA claims the winds are 85 MPH, but none of the Weather Underground stations in the area report higher than 33 MPH winds. By definition, this is not a hurricane – and is just barely a tropical storm.



A television reporter on the beach at landfall says the highest gust is only 51 mph.

g6FoF1fsOY0

The worst winds are always on the east side of the eye and that side mostly missed land. There's also some margin of error estimating how much of the upper level winds translates to the surface.

The worst winds are always on the east side of the eye and that side mostly missed land. There's also some margin of error estimating how much of the upper level winds translates to the surface.

Yes, but this wind map taken just after landfall shows the top wind speed in the NE quadrant (the most sever part of the storm) to be just 61mph.

http://stevengoddard.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/screenhunter_218-aug-27-14-52.gif

...and bouys at sea only record max gust of 63mph.

https://www.gplus.com/Hurricanes/Discussion/The-buoys-with-100-miles-of-the-eye-are-only-recording-gusts-of-63-mph

Was it weaker than expected? Yes. But still a CAT1. Storm reports below.



139
NWUS52 KMHX 280225
LSRMHX

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
1025 PM EDT SAT AUG 27 2011

.TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON

.DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.


0329 AM HURRICANE MOREHEAD CITY 34.72N 76.73W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC EMERGENCY MNGR

78MPH MEASURED AT MHC POLICE DEPARTMENT BEFORE ANEMOMETER
BROKE.

0359 AM HURRICANE HAVELOCK 34.91N 76.89W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC NWS EMPLOYEE

TREE DOWN ON HOUSE ON JOSEPH DRIVE.

0408 AM HIGH SUST WINDS STACY 34.84N 76.43W
08/27/2011 M80.00 MPH CARTERET NC TRAINED SPOTTER

GUSTING TO 93 MPH


0600 AM HURRICANE FORT BARNWELL 35.27N 77.33W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC EMERGENCY MNGR



0615 AM HIGH SUST WINDS 5 SW JACKSONVILLE 34.71N 77.47W
08/27/2011 M80.00 MPH ONSLOW NC TRAINED SPOTTER

WIND GUST TO 94 MPH

0641 AM HIGH SUST WINDS BEAUFORT 34.72N 76.65W
08/27/2011 M65.00 MPH CARTERET NC TRAINED SPOTTER

GUSTS TO 77 MPH

.

0700 AM HURRICANE GREENVILLE 35.60N 77.37W
08/27/2011 PITT NC EMERGENCY MNGR

73MPH WIND GUST OBSERVED AT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
OPERATIONS CENTER

INCHES.

0719 AM HIGH SUST WINDS CEDAR ISLAND 35.00N 76.33W
08/27/2011 M90.00 MPH CARTERET NC DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

CEDAR ISLAND FERRY TERMINAL REPORTS SUSTAINED WINDS 90
MPH WITH GUSTS TO 110 MPH.


0750 AM HURRICANE CEDAR ISLAND 35.00N 76.33W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

115 MPH WIND GUST REPORTED AT THE CEDAR ISLAND FERRY
OFFICE.




0800 AM HURRICANE CEDAR ISLAND 35.00N 76.33W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

WIND GUSTS TO 115 MPH AT CEDAR ISLAND FERRY TERMINAL.




0830 AM HEAVY RAIN MOREHEAD CITY 34.72N 76.73W
08/27/2011 M10.20 INCH CARTERET NC PUBLIC

0845 AM HURRICANE AURORA 35.30N 76.79W
08/27/2011 BEAUFORT NC EMERGENCY MNGR

70 MPH SUSTAINED WINDS AND 90 MPH GUSTS AT PCS PHOSPHATE



0848 AM HURRICANE 1 NW AURORA 35.31N 76.80W
08/27/2011 BEAUFORT NC EMERGENCY MNGR

70 MPH SUSTAINED WINDS AND 90 MPH GUSTS AT PCS PHOSPHATE.

0851 AM HURRICANE NEW BERN 35.12N 77.08W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC ASOS

WIND GUST TO 74 MPH AT KEWN


0907 AM HURRICANE 3 E BEAUFORT 34.72N 76.60W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC EMERGENCY MNGR

HIGHWAY 70 AND MERRIMON ROAD NEAR EAST CARTERET HIGH
SCHOOL ARE IMPASSABLE DUE TO DEBRIS AND TREES BLOCKING
THE ROAD.


9:24 AM HURRICANE 1 NW JAMES CITY 35.08N 77.03W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC TRAINED SPOTTER

TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED SUSTAINED WINDS OF 55 MPH WITH A
GUST TO 86 MPH AND DOZENS OF TREES DOWN BETWEEN NEWPORT
AND NEW BERN ON HWY 70.

0930 AM HEAVY RAIN 1 SW HAVELOCK 34.88N 76.94W
08/27/2011 M8.57 INCH CRAVEN NC COCORAHS

COCORAHS OBSERVER REPORTED 8.57 INCHES NEAR HAVELOCK.

0950 AM HURRICANE 19 SSE NAGS HEAD 35.69N 75.50W
08/27/2011 OUTER BANKS DARE NC AWOS

WIND GUST TO 83 MPH.

0950 AM HURRICANE 19 SSE NAGS HEAD 35.69N 75.50W
08/27/2011 OUTER BANKS DARE NC AWOS

WIND GUST TO 83 MPH AT KPEI.

0950 AM HURRICANE 19 SSE NAGS HEAD 35.69N 75.50W
08/27/2011 OUTER BANKS DARE NC AWOS WIND GUST TO 83 MPH AT KPEI
1015 AM HURRICANE NEWPORT 34.79N 76.86W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC TRAINED SPOTTER

74 MPH MEASURED WIND GUST.

1020 AM HURRICANE 4 SE NEW BERN 35.07N 77.03W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC PUBLIC

INTERSECTION OF 70W AND AIRPORT RD. 3 BUSINESSES FLOODED.

1020 AM HURRICANE 2 SSE JAMES CITY 35.04N 77.01W
08/27/2011 CRAVEN NC PUBLIC

INTERSECTION OF ROUTE 70W AND THURMAN RD. LARGE TREE 1
FT. DIAMETER LAYING ON POWER LINE

1035 AM HURRICANE ATLANTIC BEACH 34.69N 76.74W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC TRAINED SPOTTER

SUSTAINED WINDS 85 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 101 MPH.

1036 AM HURRICANE 1 N DUCK 36.18N 75.76W
08/27/2011 OUTER BANKS DARE NC EMERGENCY MNGR

DUCK PIER REPORTING SUSTAINED WINDS 67 MPH WITH GUSTS TO


1055 AM TROPICAL STORM GREENVILLE 35.60N 77.37W
08/27/2011 PITT NC AWOS

WIND GUST TO 64 MPH AT KPGV

1101 AM HURRICANE BEAUFORT 34.72N 76.65W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC AMATEUR RADIO

55 MPH SUSTAINED WITH GUSTS TO 76 MPH ON ANN STREET.

Was it weaker than expected? Yes. But still a CAT1. Storm reports below.


Help me out here - where does the storm report show sustained winds of 74mph?

Never mind - found it.


1035 AM HURRICANE ATLANTIC BEACH 34.69N 76.74W
08/27/2011 CARTERET NC TRAINED SPOTTER

SUSTAINED WINDS 85 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 101 MPH.

Small piece of advice my man. Never use Steven Goddard as a source for anything.

Those people on the east coast has been through a lot. With the recent earthquake emergency and now the hurricane emergency, we can only hope nothing more disastrous happen anytime soon with approaching holidays.

Small piece of advice my man. Never use Steven Goddard as a source for anything.

Looked through the comments on the linked site and as soon as they went political (about 3 in) I wrote the site completely off as partisan garbage that is pushing and agenda. There are spotter reports showing winds well in hurricane force. The guy's claim is even more foolish when he says "33 mph is barely tropical storm"...33mph isn't Tropical Storm - 39 or higher is. There were also plenty of reports of winds well in tropical storm force when 75+ miles away from the center.

The article was garbage and just meant to stir an agenda. Delete and ignore.