Page 12 - Steering Currents News Today

Eye. paul flaherty joins us now. paul, man, i understand we are catching you at 45,000 feet above irma. what are the conditions? >> good morning. im up here about 45,000 feet just south of cuba, right around guantanamo bay. we just finished going around the outside of the storm. im on the jet today, so im on the high flying plane collecting data for the steering currents to go into the model so we can narrow down this forecast. we have a plane in the storm and one just outside. what were seeing ...

This is from hurricane hunters flying through the eye of the hurricane. joining us now from 45,000 feet is noaa hurricane hunter flight director paul harris. paul, can you hear us? >> yes, i can. >> what do you learn from being in the center of this particular storm? >> we have airplanes both in the center and also outside of the storm -- im on the aircraft outside of the storm right now. were really focusing on understanding what the steering currents are going to do with this storm. as you can...

How much af monster this storm is? >> well the data were collecting on the aircraft im frid flying on is the gulf stream 4, the outskirts of the storm in order to collect data regarding the steering currents. the data we collect now wont be really known to us until the 12 z model occurs which is really happening now. well get that information out in about two to three hours. >> the eye wall. over the last day, any of the measure. s youve seen tell you anything about the strength, the tightness o...

Is ready to go if needed even though we see the general path shift a little bit to the east, we are still going to be prepared. we want everyone in florida and everyone up through the carolinas to be prepared. if you dont prepare now, you wont have time when we know you have to go. >> fair point. what youre seeing in that storm in terms of steering currents leads you believe theres still a good chance it hits the florida peninsula? >> well, it has a good chance. theres a lot of probabilities in ...

If you live in the keys, you know to heed those warnings. how concerned are you that folks arent going to heed some of these warnings if theyre on the mainland of florida? >> there arent many americans that have ever experienced storm surge from a major hurricane and the ones that stick around to figure out what its like typically get killed. you know, the bottom line is storm surge is the unfor giving hazard. its the main reason we ask people to evacuate or local governments and state governmen...

And of course, you know, i think the storm will get up to a category five inside the next 24 hours if not through the next couple of days. the official forecast does keep it as a very healthy category four, on the cusp of a cat five. a lot of people get fixated on the numbers assigned to the storms. i want to note that about two-thirds of storm fatalities with tropical systems are water related, whether it be flash flooding or storm surge. dont be too concerned necessarily about the winds associ...

Turn to the north, a right-hand turn, but until that turn happens, we just wont know exactly whats going to happen or where landfall will be. european model in blue, u.s. model, the gfs in red, they are in great agreement and carry the system up, one on the east coast, one on the west coast. this is september 11th and were looking at what could be like matthew last year, sliding along the coast and barrelling into the carolinas. just on the american model, these are the ensemble models that give...

Devastated them. suffering there, suffering in the northern islands of the lesser antilles, anguilea is going to take a direct hit, lose power, communications. 6 to 9 foot storm surge. next the u.s. virgin islands. puerto rico under a state of emergency already. conditions are going to start to deteriorate tomorrow afternoon. with the way this is moving, going to take a look at the track, the time period, as it slides through the caribbean, sometime friday afternoon, i expect it to be in the nor...

System stays pretty much over water. thats where we want most of the stronger winds. thats where we want the heavier rain. they are still looking at 6 to 9 foot stornl surges in the islands. 10 inches of rain. if you have a flight to have a if you do have a vacation in this area, call ahead by the end of the week o to see if they still have power or communications. a major category 4. heres the timeline. wednesday, puerto rico, dominican republic, turks and caicos on the northern edge with the b...

Through, and me being a florida resident, being through a half dozen of these, a dozen of these things, you know what to expect. why is this so different? why hasnt this barreled through? because the day after you worry about tornadoes going here, tornadoes going there, power lines, and everybody recovers. unfortunately the people of texas, the people of houston theyre just, theyre still struggling with this. why is this storm different? >> because nothing was able to push it out of the way. the...