Tropical System Zeta

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KEY MESSAGES:

1. A life-threatening storm surge is expected along portions of the
northern Gulf Coast by late Wednesday, with the highest inundation
occurring somewhere between the Mouth of the Pearl River and Dauphin
Island, Alabama. Residents in the Storm Surge Warning area should
follow any advice given by local officials.

2. Hurricane conditions are expected by late Wednesday within
portions of the Hurricane Warning area between Morgan City,
Louisiana, and the Mississippi/Alabama border. Damaging winds,
especially in gusts, will spread well inland across portions of
southeast Mississippi and southern Alabama Wednesday night due to
Zetas fast forward speed.

3. Between tonight and Thursday, heavy rainfall is expected from
portions of the central U.S. Gulf Coast into the Ohio Valley and
Mid-Atlantic States near and in advance of Zeta. This rainfall
will lead to flash, urban, small stream, and minor river flooding.

4. Tropical storm conditions will continue in portions of the
northern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico during the next few hours.
Heavy rainfall is expected across the Yucatan Peninsula, the Cayman
Islands, and western Cuba today, which will lead to flash flooding
in urban areas.

BULLETIN
Hurricane Zeta Advisory Number 17
NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL282020
400 PM CDT Wed Oct 28 2020

...ZETA MAKING LANDFALL IN SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA...


SUMMARY OF 400 PM CDT...2100 UTC...INFORMATION
----------------------------------------------
LOCATION...29.2N 90.6W
ABOUT 65 MI...100 KM SSW OF NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...110 MPH...175 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNE OR 25 DEGREES AT 24 MPH...39 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...970 MB...28.65 INCHES

KEY MESSAGES:

1. A life-threatening storm surge is beginning along portions of the
northern Gulf Coast, with the highest inundation expected to occur
somewhere between Port Fourchon, Louisiana, and Dauphin Island,
Alabama, especially along the Mississippi coast. Overtopping of
local, non-federal levee systems is possible within southeastern
Louisiana outside of the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction
System.

2. Extremely dangerous hurricane conditions are spreading across
portions of the Hurricane Warning area along the southeastern
Louisiana coast and will spread to the Mississippi coast this
evening. Tropical storm conditions will spread into portions of the
Tropical Storm Warning area along the Alabama and far western
Florida Panhandle coasts in the next few hours.

3. Strong, damaging wind gusts, which could cause tree damage and
power outages, will spread well inland across portions of
southeastern Mississippi, Alabama, northern Georgia, the Carolinas,
and southeastern Virginia tonight and Thursday due to Zeta's fast
forward speed. Wind gusts could be especially severe across the
southern Appalachian Mountains on Thursday.

4. Through Thursday, heavy rainfall is expected from portions of
the central U.S. Gulf Coast into the Mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio
Valley, southern to central Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic States
near and in advance of Zeta. This rainfall will lead to flash,
urban, small stream, and minor river flooding.

Hurricane Zeta is now charging into southern Mississippi as a Category 1 hurricane bringing life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

The hurricane made landfall as a strong Category 2 near Cocodrie, Louisiana on Terrebonne Bay late Wednesday afternoon.

Damaging wind gusts will persist far inland across portions of the South, and widespread rainfall will also affect a wide area of the East through late week as Zeta interacts with another weather system.

The northern eyewall of Zeta is now pushing northeastward through southern Mississippi. Zeta socked New Orleans with 90+ mph wind gusts earlier this evening but is now centered near Slidell, Louisiana. A wind gust to 112 mph was reported at Bayou Bienvenue as that eyewall punched through the New Orleans metro. A gust of 101 mph was recently recorded in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Winds are beginning to gust well ahead of the storm. A wind gust of 70 mph was reported in the 7 p.m. hour in Mobile, Alabama. Water is currently running more than 7.5 feet higher than normal in Waveland, Mississippi, where winds have also gusted to 104 mph.

Water levels on the lakeshore in New Orleans rose by 2 feet as the wind direction changed on the backside of the eye. Winds and rain are now beginning to lessen in New Orleans. Some folks even got treated to a sunset this evening on the Gulf Coast after landfall.

More than 4 feet of storm surge piled up on the western side of Lake Pontchartrain near LaPlace as Zeta's eyewall pushed the lake westward.

Unfortunately, it's the part of country with the highest number of climate change deniers, especially Mississippi and Alabama.

Somehow that seems more appropriate than unfortunate. Then again, I have survived both Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 tornado super outbreak, so I'm a bit more cynical than most when it comes to both weather and climate change deniers themselves. If you don't like loud noises, don't ever go near an EF4 tornado. It is quite literally the loudest thing I have ever heard, and as many others often report, tornadoes do sound almost exactly like freight trains.

There are many reasons not to go near an EF4 tornado.