000 WWUS41 KJAN 091955 PSHJAN POST TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT...HURRICANE KATRINA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS 250 PM CDT FRI SEP 9 2005 DESTRUCTION IN THE PATH OF HURRICANE KATRINA HAS BEEN WIDESPREAD AND OVERWHELMING. CATASTROPHIC DESTRUCTION WAS LEFT ACROSS THE GULF COAST AND PARTS OF SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. SEVERAL VISUAL SURVEYS WERE MADE BY NWS PERSONNEL ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...EAST-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. THESE SURVEYS INDICATED WIDESPREAD DAMAGE COMPARABLE TO F1 TO F2 TORNADOES...WITH AREAS BORDERING ON F3 TYPE DAMAGE. THE MOST EXTENSIVE DAMAGE...FROM THE SURVEYED AREAS...IS ROUGHLY LOCATED SOUTH AND EAST OF A PURVIS TO COLLINS TO NEWTON TO MERIDIAN LINE. AREAS NORTH OF I-20 DUE HAVE CONSIDERABLE TREE DAMAGE...COMPARABLE TO AN F1 TORNADO...BUT THE DAMAGE IS NOT AS WIDESPREAD LIKE ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. THE SWATH OF DAMAGE EXTENDED ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTHERN SECTIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS FAR WEST AS BOLIVAR COUNTY WITH WIND GUSTS OVER 50 MPH OBSERVED AT MANY LOCATIONS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. HURRICANE KATRINA HAS PROVEN TO BE A NATIONAL DISASTER, LEAVING UNTOLD NUMBERS DEAD, THOUSANDS OF HOMES DESTROYED AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HOUSEHOLDS DAMAGED OR WITHOUT POWER. PLEASE TAKE NOTE THAT METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS WERE INCOMPLETE FROM MANY AREA WEATHER STATIONS DURING THE STORM DUE TO WIDESPREAD WIND-RELATED POWER AND COMMUNICATION OUTAGES. SOME OF THE DATA HAD TO BE ESTIMATED OR JUST SIMPLY MARKED AS "MISSING" BECAUSE OF THIS ISSUE. ANY ESTIMATED DATA IS NOTED IN THE TABLES BELOW. ADDITIONALLY...MOST OF THE WIND AND PRESSURE OBSERVATIONS OCCURRED 8/29 AND WERE ONLY DATED IF THEY OCCURRED DURING A DIFFERENT CALENDAR DATE (UTC TIME). ALSO...PLEASE REALIZE THAT DUE TO EXTENSIVE COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORTATION FAILURES...INFORMATION REGARDING DAMAGE AND CASUALTIES IS EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY. THIS REPORT WILL BE UPDATED AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IS RECEIVED. A. WIND DATA... ASOS/AWOS (PEAK WIND GUSTS IN KNOTS) COUNTY/PARISH..LOCATION.................SPEED...TIME (UTC) LAUDERDALE.....MERIDIAN NAS (NMM).......70......2051 RANKIN.........NWS JACKSON (JAN)........56......2014 LOWNDES........COLUMBUS AFB (CBM).......50......0100 (30TH) MADISON LA.....TALLULAH LA (TVR)........48......1834 CARROLL........GREENWOOD (GWO)..........46......2153 WASHINGTON.....GREENVILLE (GLH).........44......2223 ADAMS..........NATCHEZ (HEZ)............MM......MMMM FORREST........HATTIESBURG (HBG)........MM......MMMM JONES..........HATTIESBURG/LAUREL (PIB).MM......MMMM HINDS..........JACKSON (HKS)............MM......MMMM LOWNDES........GOLDEN TRIANGLE (GTR)....MM......MMMM OTHER MEASURED WIND GUSTS COUNTY/PARISH..LOCATION.................SPEED...TIME (UTC) JONES..........LAUREL..................110 MPH..1900 (EST) FORREST........HATTIESBURG.............100 MPH..1800 (EST) MARION.........COLUMBIA................ 81 MPH..1800 (EST) OKTIBBEHA......STARKVILLE...............76 MPH..0030 (EST) NOTE: NWS JAN NOTED A BRIEF WIND PEAK OF 74 MPH WHICH DID NOT MEET THE ASOS REQUIREMENTS TO BE REPORTED AS A PEAK GUST. THE OBSERVATIONS AT JONES AND FORREST COUNTIES WERE THE HIGHEST RECORDED BEFORE THE ANEMOMETERS FAILED. B. SEA LEVEL PRESSURE DATA... (LOWEST MINIMUM SEA LEVEL PRESSURE OBSERVED IN MILLIBARS) PRESSURE MB..TIME (UTC)...COUNTY......LOCATION 951.0........1800 (EST)...MARION......COLUMBIA 964.4........2355.........LAUDERDALE..NAS MERIDIAN (NMM) 973.3........2129.........RANKIN......NWS JACKSON (JAN) 977.0........0300 (30TH)..OKTIBBEHA...STARKVILLE 980.4........0355 (30TH)..LOWNDES.....COLUMBUS AFB (CBM) 992.8........0156 (30TH)..WASHINGTON..GREENVILLE (GLH) NOTE: THE PRESSURE AT NWS JAN IS AN ALL-TIME RECORD FOR THE LOWEST SEA LEVEL PRESSURE EVER OBSERVED AT JAN. 28.74 INCHES BREAKS THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 28.94 INCHES...SET ON AUGUST 17...1969 DURING HURRICANE CAMILLE. C. STORM TOTAL RAIN AMOUNTS... ASOS/AWOS (STORM TOTAL RAIN IN INCHES) DATA COMPILED FROM 08/29/05 00Z THROUGH 08/30/05 12Z COUNTY/PARISH.......LOCATION.................RAIN AMOUNT LOWNDES.............COLUMBUS AIR BASE (CBM)..5.79 RANKIN..............NWS JACKSON (JAN)........3.93 WASHINGTON..........GREENVILLE (GLH).........2.08 CARROLL.............GREENWOOD (GWO)..........MM LOWNDES.............GOLDEN TRIANGLE (GTR)....MM MADISON (LA)........VICKSBURG/TALLULAH (TVR).MM ADAMS...............NATCHEZ (HEZ)............MM RANKIN..............HAWKINS FIELD (HKS)......MM JONES...............HATTIESBURG/LAUREL.......MM FORREST.............HATTIESBURG..............MM OTHER OBSERVATIONS (STORM TOTAL RAIN IN INCHES) DATA COMPILED FROM 08/29/05 00Z THROUGH 08/30/05 12Z LOCATION................................RAIN AMOUNT MARION COUNTY (JUST WEST OF COLUMBIA)...8.20 NOXAPATER...............................7.90 TOMBIGBEE NATIONAL FOREST AT ACKERMAN...7.52 BOWIE CREEK (NORTH OF HATTIESBURG)......7.35 CONEHATTA...............................7.00 13 MI SSE OF KOSCIUSKO..................6.80 BROOKLYN................................6.78 PHILADELPHIA............................6.72 OKATOMA RIVER AT SANFORD................6.19 EDINBURG................................6.15 PELAHATCHIE.............................5.90 OFAHOMA.................................5.88 ETHEL...................................5.70 HATTIESBURG.............................5.18 KOSCIUSKO...............................4.27 D. MAXIMUM STORM TIDE HEIGHTS... NOT APPLICABLE E. EXTENT OF BEACH EROSION... NOT APPLICABLE F. FLOODING AND/OR FLASH FLOODING... PRELIMINARY REPORTS INDICATE THAT EXTENSIVE URBAN AND FLASH FLOODING OCCURRED AT THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 55. HOWEVER...THE MAGNITUDE AND IMPACT OF THIS FLOODING IS STILL UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME. G. TORNADOES... A TOTAL OF 11 TORNADOES HAVE BEEN SURVEYED FROM HURRICANE KATRINA AND WERE ASSOCIATED WITH OUTER BANDS AHEAD OF THE NORTHWARD MOVING STORM. MOST OF THE TORNADOES OCCURRED ACROSS LAUDERDALE...KEMPER...NEWTON AND NESHOBA COUNTIES...WITH 5 OF THE 11 OCCURRING IN NESHOBA COUNTY ALONE. THE MAJORITY OF THESE TORNADOES WERE BRIEF AND ON THE GROUND FOR 2-4 MILES. ADDITIONALLY...ALL OF THE DAMAGE WAS CONFINED TO FALLEN TREES AND MINOR DAMAGE TO ROOFS AND OUT BUILDINGS. MOST OF THE TORNADOES WERE RATED F1 AND RESIDED ON THE LOW END OF THE SCALE. HOWEVER...2 TORNADOES WERE A BIT STRONGER AND PRODUCED F2 TYPE TREE DAMAGE. THE FIRST F2 TORNADO OCCURRED JUST NNE OF DECATUR IN CENTRAL NEWTON COUNTY. HERE MANY VERY LARGE TREES WERE UPROOTED OR SNAPPED AND LAID IN ALL DIRECTIONS. THE SECOND F2 OCCURRED IN SOUTHEAST NESHOBA COUNTY JUST SOUTH OF THE HOUSE COMMUNITY OFF HIGHWAY 19. AGAIN...NUMEROUS LARGE TREES WERE UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. NO INJURIES OR FATALITIES OCCURRED WITH ANY TORNADOES. H. PRELIMINARY STORM EFFECTS -AT LEAST ISOLATED TREE DAMAGE ACROSS THE WHOLE COUNTY WARNING AREA. -WIDESPREAD TREE AND POWERLINE DAMAGE IN MISSISSIPPI COUNTIES. -WIDESPREAD TREE...POWERLINE AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO HOMES AND BUSINESSES ALONG AND EAST OF THE NATCHEZ TRACE. -EXTENSIVE TREE...POWERLINE AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. AREA EXTENDS ROUGHLY ALONG AND EAST OF THE PEARL RIVER AND SOUTHEAST OF MAGEE TO NEWTON TO MERIDIAN LINE. DAMAGE EQUIVALENT TO F2 TO F3 TORNADO DAMAGE IN SOME AREAS. -AS OF THIS TIME...THERE HAVE BEEN 23 CONFIRMED FATALITIES IN THE JACKSON CWA RELATED TO KATRINA. SINCE THE EXACT CIRCUMSTANCES OF THESE DEATHS ARE NOT KNOWN...IT IS UNCERTAIN HOW MANY WILL BE CONSIDERED DIRECT STORM-RELATED FATALITIES. $$ WFO JAN STAFF