This isn't live at all. It's based on the ECMWF/GFS models, which are updated every six hours, and are estimates rather than raw observations. For actual live data, you can see a live feed from the Hurricane Hunters recon aircraft (updated every ten minutes) here:

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/recon/

The blob tracks pretty close to radar.

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/full_lite_loop.php

You can also follow live streams from storm chasers:

https://livestormchasing.com/map https://www.pscp.tv/w/1lDGLykXqvLJm

Can someone explain what I'm looking at here? Thanks!

MSLP = mean sea level pressure, lower means a stronger storm

SFMR = instrument to measure winds on the ground/ocean, which are usually weaker than at the plane's altitude

kts = knots = multiply by 1.15 to get wind speeds in miles per hour

dropsonde = thing they drop out of the plane to measure wind, temperature, and pressure at different altitudes as it falls

Here's how to read wind barbs: http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/info/about_windbarb.html

You are looking at what will soon be the destruction of thousands of people’s homes by a powerful category 4 hurricane, as a relentless pandemic continues to hold the nation in its grip.

There's a better link. Windy.com has a hurricane tracker view: https://www.windy.com/-Hurricane-tracker/hurricanes?gustAccu...

Just 1-2 days ago someone posted an article that if a bad hurricane hits Houston area it will be like Chernobyl because of all the oil and chemicals stored in the area. Now the hurricane seems to be heading there. Man this year 2020 keeps on giving.

It’s narrowly sparing Houston. The biggest risk to Houston at this point is probably mass power outages but even that is looking unlikely. Thousands of homes are likely to still be destroyed along the coast.

If the dice had rolled just slightly differently, tonight would have been a decade defining event as a major US city was destroyed. We just barely scraped by and avoided that fate.

Pour one out for Lake Charles, though. It's not a major city, but it's right in the blast zone of this monster storm.

Worse than harvey?

Yeah I was about to say they got hit hard in Houston three years ago and seem to have recovered fine.

Harvey was a much smaller slower hurricane that destroyed tens of thousands of homes due to flooding and was one of the most expensive hurricanes EVER. Houston would be in big trouble with a fast direct hit from a cat 5, largely due to lax building codes.

Harvey came ashore a category 4 storm then proceeded to loiter over Houston for days with hurricane force winds. I don’t see how it gets much worse than that.

I don’t believe that is accurate. Harvey’s winds caused little to no damage to Houston. Harvey was a rain event, not a wind event. Laura would have been a wind event, not a rain event.

Besides the flooding and people either stranded or stuck at their location for weeks, not a ton of damage. The O&G infrastructure is pretty secure there.

Prediction:

It won't be like Chernobyl.

Why?

Some things only happen once.

OK so you're just spit-balling and have no actual reason to think this?

Oh thanks :) now I can sleep safely and soundly.

It's headed towards Lake Charles, LA. Houston is getting just the outside edge.

It's a category 4 even outside edge will be bad

The east side of the hurricane is typically the dirty part. The west side will be spared most of the destruction. But it’s only narrowly going to miss Houston. Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Lake Charles are in for a very, very terrible night.

Why is that? Coriolis? Northern Hemisphere?

Last I looked, 20mph winds and a 2 foot surge for Houston. That's basically "tropical storm".

Lake Charles is facing something much, much, worse.

doubt.

wake me up if it changes paths and the eye wall hits and hovers over, without weakening.

My wife said today, if someone wrote a movie about 2020, it'd be unbelievable, nobody would buy it.... well until next year anyways.

On a different but similar note. If the exact movie Contagion, shot for shot, had come out next year everybody would hate it for basically being a slight exaggeration and following the news too closely with barely any originality.

Pandemic seems to be the most popular board game of the year. I don’t have figures for beer, but I suspect corona is doing well too.

Fiction has to fit conventions.

Truth does not.

Ya'll probably know this but I'm very interested in tracking Laura as she landfalls using specifically barometers in phones. I do this with All Clear:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.allclearwe... (US android app), source code I write for the clever 'background' sensor data on Android here [1] and animation of the non-landfalling Hurricane Dorian last year as viewed from phones in Eastern Florida [2]

I think with Laura landfalling and travelling across the US for a while, there should be a lot of interesting and maybe useful surface-pressure readings to be had.

Stay safe if you are anywhere near this hurricane. It is ...unprecedented.

[1] https://github.com/JacobSheehy/AllClearSensorLibrary

[2] https://www.allclearweather.com/hurricane-dorian

Also I suppose it's important to shoutout /r/tropicalweather, just about the best community on reddit. Their megathreads and links are always useful. https://reddit.com/r/tropicalweather

What is unprecedented about this hurricane?

The extreme rapid intensification over the last 24-36 hours is record setting I believe. And presently it is still strengthening and will potentially set many records - I suppose I shouldn't speak too soon with 'unprecedented' but all signs indicate this will be an extreme event.

God, it’d be incredible if this became a Category 6 in 2020. Hurricane Dorian almost hit that milestone.

FWIW there is no official category 6, as 5 is deemed as essentially total destruction and there isn't much need for a 6. It's a topic of debate however.

Also Laura may reach a minimal category 5 but is unlikely to intensify past baseline 5 status.

Looks like it will make landfall right on top of a hazardous wastes management plant. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ecoserv/@29.7813554,-93.33...

There are tons of oil refineries and chemical plants in that area. I hope they built them to withstand these kind of winds.

NOAA generally has good coverage of US Storms (of all sorts)

Here is the satelite: https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/floater.php?stormid=AL...

lots of maps and such updated frequently

"Unsurvivable Storm Surge" yikes. https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/031757.s...

"Maximum sustained winds are near 150 mph (240 km/h) with higher gusts. No significant change in strength is likely before landfall. Rapid weakening is expected after Laura moves inland."[1]

[1]https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/270253...?

Wow. Apparently a category four is 130-156 mph sustained, and category 5 is anything over that.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php

FYI the updates are pretty old - nearly 12 hours by this point. Laura is projected to be a Cat 4 hurricane at landfall.

Windy has a satellite view of the hurricane here:

https://www.windy.com/sv/-Satellit-satellite?satellite,29.07...

Hit play button to see progress from last hour to current.

I've always liked https://earth.nullschool.net/

If you click the button in the bottom left, it has a lot of features for viewing things like Wind speed, Wave Height, Atmospheric particulates and even Aroura activity.

That is a beautiful app, and internationalization is ideal. If Ivo and team read HN, great job!

I didn't want to noise up the comments, but the first thing I noticed is that the site worked fine even with uBlock Origin turned on. That's a rare sight! Compliments from me too.

Looks like it is affecting wind patterns blowing outward all the way to Minnesota and Wyoming. Or are those streams normal?

Is it supposed to have completely black background?

Does anybody work on how to extract energy from hurricanes? A pretty powerful wind turbine...

That's basically how offshore windfarms work. Electricity generation firms place wind turbines offshore where there is usually stronger wind. Having windfarms specifically for hurricanes wouldn't be viable since hurricanes strike infrequently and in different locations.

Well, maybe you need mobile devices. Or, more exotic, a way to influence the hurricane path...

This is an amusing variant on the perennial favourite, how to extract energy from lightning strikes.

I haven't seen this question asked about tsunamis, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions.

But it's only a matter of time.

Don't see how that could be viable/worth it without significant battery peaker capacity installed.

For this issue at least one can run water electrolysis and store hydrogen?

It will never be worth building an energy capture system where ~100% of the capacity sits unused ~100% of the time.