Just my opinion- DCA at 52 mph is a pretty impressive SE wind considering Isabel’s peak gust wasn’t that much higher at 58 mph. (Irene and Sandy’s winds were in more common directions.) IAD actually slightly exceeded Isabel’s highest gust there. The sustained winds were of course more impressive in Isabel.
I grew up in Potomac and vividly remember this event as well. The severe weather knocked out power in my neighborhood before the flip. The winds kept being gusty after the flip so it was a very wintry couple of hours. Most of it melted by morning.
The Lidia (10/10/23 landfall), Norma (10/21/23 landfall), Otis (10/25/23 landfall) sequence has got to be a record or tied a record for most hurricane landfalls in a single country in that short period of time, right?
Let alone the more astonishing fact of a Cat 4 and Cat 5 landfall separated by only 15 days in a single country- I can’t imagine that that’s ever happened in recorded history.
Seriously, though, this is one of those instances where it feels like someone controls the weather, not predicts it. I mean that in the best way possible. Just wow.
It’s already 22 mph/G 31 mph with the arrival of the first rain band at DCA. Not hard to imagine getting to frequent 40 mph+ gusts tomorrow at that location.
62 kt surface from a dropsonde in the SW band…maintaining. Ophelia was modeled to be a pulse-y storm with center jumps, etc. We happened to witness one very quick pulse up because of the timing of recon.
That the “x” is orange, not red, on the NHC website is indicating they think there’s a 40% this system remains extra-tropical the whole time, right? If that were the case, it would never get a name, but the warnings would remain?
I know people have pointed out issues with these gust products, but here are the "peak" panels from various 12Z model runs:
https://weather.us/model-charts/standard/maryland/gusts-1h-3h-mph/20230923-1800z.html
https://weather.us/model-charts/conus-hd/maryland/gusts-mph/20230923-1800z.html
https://weather.us/model-charts/euro/maryland/gusts-3h-mph/20230924-0300z.html
https://weather.us/model-charts/gbr/maryland/gusts-1h-3h-mph/20230924-0000z.html
https://weather.us/model-charts/can/maryland/gusts-3h-mph/20230923-2100z.html
I know I haven’t posted much lately so maybe I missed something… did some other sub-forums turn to no moderation as practice? The New England sub-forum reads as a “post anything you want.”
A lot of focus was on the storm surge record at Cedar Key, but it looks like Steinhatchee also easily broke its record set by Hermine. And Clearwater Beach had its highest water level as well, breaking the record set by the 1993 Superstorm. St. Petersburg was really close to its record water level as well, ending up a close second.
What’s happening right now in SE Virginia is a bit unexpected, right? TS-force gusts and a solid rain shield…covered by wind advisories and coastal flood warnings.