Hurricane Francine Slams Northern Gulf Coast of United States | NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites have been closely tracking Tropical Storm Francine since it formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. Initially designated as Potential Tropical Cyclone Six on Sept. 8, 2024, it strengthened into a tropical storm the following day, continuing to intensify as it moved north toward Louisiana.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents to "not to panic, but be prepared" and follow evacuation orders. In response, people across the region have been filling sandbags, stocking up on essentials, and fueling their vehicles.
By late Tuesday morning, Sept. 10, 2024, Francine remained a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center. However, fueled by the Gulf’s exceptionally warm waters—about 87 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius)—Francine intensified into a Category 1 hurricane by 7 p.m. CDT, and by the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 11, the storm had sustained winds of 90 mph. The Gulf’s ocean heat content is currently at record-high levels.
Around 4 p.m. CDT that same day, Francine strengthened further to a Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The storm made landfall roughly an hour later in southern Louisiana in the Parish of Terrebonne, about 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, inundating the coastal areas with flash flooding that made many roads impassable and caused power outages that left hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark. As of Thursday morning, over 388,000 utility customers in Louisiana, 52,000 in Mississippi, and 10,000 in Alabama were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Credits: NOAA, NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 19 seconds
No comments:
Post a Comment