It takes awhile to amass all the ground data collected after a hurricane. Now that most of the data is collected, it seems that Katrina was NOT a Category 4 hurricane. It was Cat 3 at Biloxi and Category 1 at New Orleans. The winds from this hurricane were not what we thought, rumors of NOAA measuring Cat 5 surface winds (reported by the media) were not true. This identifies more concerns at best, failures at worst....
Failure: Media coverage and fact checking. We know that MSM is weak sometimes. Local TV is worse. Rumors of Cat 5 winds were completely unsubstantiated. As was the reporting of elevated crime in Baton Rouge. NPR discussed this last night.
Pity. A terrible situation is now even worse because the storm wasn't as strong as we thought.
These conclusions have been reported in the Florida Sun Sentinel. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-skatrina04oct04,0,2218266.story
The data from NOAA is here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lix/html/psh_katrina.htm Look at sustained winds, not peak. It is the sustained winds that determine hurricane strength. The Saffir Simpson Index is here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml
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