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Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390974 10/25/10 07:10 AM
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 3,281 Virginia Barbara K
Barbara K	Any reports from Bz City, Gales Pt or Dangriga yet? www.barbsbelize.com

Re: Hurricane Richard Barbara K #390977 10/25/10 07:45 AM
Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,267 San Pedro AC Belize Diane Campbell
Diane Campbell	Originally Posted by Barbara K Any reports from Bz City, Gales Pt or Dangriga yet? Nothing much on the radio right now about conditions in these areas. No school today anywhere in the country. All Clear should be announced a little later today.

Re: Hurricane Richard Barbara K #390978 10/25/10 07:49 AM
Joined: Aug 2009 Posts: 65 James Pearce
James Pearce	Apparently & thankfully no loss of life country-wide. Seems like a fair amount of property & tree damage in Belize City & Belmopan (according to LoveFM at least)

Re: Hurricane Richard

Marty #390981 10/25/10 07:55 AM

Joined: Oct 1999

Posts: 84,404

oregon, spr

Marty

Marty

Richard hits Belize, weakens to a tropical storm

Posted by: JeffMasters, 12:38 PM GMT on October 25, 2010

Hurricane Richard hit central Belize last night at approximately 8:45pm EDT as a Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds. The hurricane made landfall about 20 miles south of Belize's largest city, Belize City (population approximately 100,000--1/3 of Belize's population.) Richard's northern eyewall passed just south of the airport, which measured top winds of 37 mph, gusting to 62mph, at 8pm CST. The airport picked up 3.66" of rain. Richard was a small hurricane, and hurricane-force winds affected a region of coast of no more than 20 - 30 miles wide, just to the south of Belize City. As Richard made landfall, the eye grew tighter and more defined, subjecting a smaller portion of the country to the extreme winds of the eyewall. This contraction of the eye was probably caused by frictional convergence--as the winds spiraling into the center of Richard passed from ocean to land, the increased friction caused the winds to slow down as they reached the eyewall. This made the inflowing air pile up near the eyewall, and this piled-up air was forced upwards into more violent updrafts, intensifying the thunderstorms in the eyewall and causing eye to contract. This intensification lasted only an hour or two, before the inland motion of the center removed Richard from its main energy source, the warm waters of the Western Caribbean.

Figure 1. Visible MODIS satellite image of Hurricane Richard taken at 12:45pm EDT 10/24/10 by NASA's Aqua satellite. A the time, Richard was a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds. Image credit: NASA.

The top winds measured at any station in Belize occurred at a personal weather station on the offshore island of Caya Caulker, which had sustained winds of 54 mph yesterday afternoon at 3:55pm CST local time. Despite the relatively small portion of Belize that was subjected to strong winds from Richard, the storm was able to knock out power to the entire nation for a period of many hours. There are no reports of deaths or injuries, but preliminary media reports indicate major wind and flooding damage in regions near where the center came ashore.

Richard was a hurricane for 18 hours, and was the 10th hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season. This year's ten hurricanes ties it for sixth place for most hurricanes in an Atlantic hurricane season. Our seventeen named storms this year also ranks as the 6th most in history. Atlantic hurricane season records go back to 1851.

Figure 2. Zoom radar image of Hurricane Richard at landfall, 8:53pm EDT 10/24/10. Belize City was just north of the northern eyewall, and did not receive tropical storm force winds, according to the hourly observations taken at the airport. However, Belmopan, the capital of Belize, experienced the northern eyewall of Richard. Image credit: Belize Meteorological Service.

Forecast for Richard
Richard has weakened to a tropical storm with 45 mph winds, as it moves west-northwest over the Yucatan Peninsula. Richard's small size and relatively slow forward speed of 5 - 10 mph will lead to continued weakening today as it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula. The storm will probably be a tropical depression when it emerges over the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday--if it survives the crossing. If Richard does survive the crossing, moderate wind shear and dry air over the southern Gulf of Mexico should keep the storm from intensifying. Richard should dissipate by Wednesday, before affecting any other land areas.

Invest 90L
A low pressure system (Invest 90L) centered near 23N 42W in the middle Atlantic Ocean, has developed a broad circulation. A band of heavy thunderstorms has developed in an arc to the north and east of the storm, well removed from the center, suggesting that 90L is a hybrid subtropical system. Wind shear is a high 20 - 25 knots, but is predicted to drop to the moderate range, 10 - 20 knots, this afternoon through Wednesday. This may give 90L the opportunity to develop, though water temperatures are marginal for development, just 26.5 - 27°C (26.5°C is usually the limiting SST that a tropical storm can develop at.) The NOGAPS model is calling for 90L to develop into a depression by Friday, when the storm will be near Bermuda. NHC is giving 90L a 10% of developing into a tropical depression by Wednesday.

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390982 10/25/10 07:58 AM
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 84,404 oregon, spr Marty OP
OP Marty	San Pedro Weathers the Storm The residents of San Pedro are braced for the effects of Hurricane Richard and it seems that those who have stayed on the island are well prepared for the weather. Heavy rain showers and intermittent winds have occurred throughout the day and according to reports the rain and winds will continue until approximately 9PM tonight. Belize Water Services has terminated water supplies until 8AM tomorrow and Belize Electric Limited warns of pending power outages. Below photos provided by our Facebook friends, Forrest Jones, Ruth Varrellas, Linda Carter, Portofino, Blue Tang Inn and Denise Stevens. Posted by The San Pedro Sun Newspaper

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390983 10/25/10 07:59 AM
Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 13,675 San Pedro Belize elbert
elbert	Ambergris caye, I walked two miles of beach this morning and didn't see any real property damage. A little beach erosion and some people had slight dock damage but not much. Hell we didn't even loose electrical service! Time to rake the beaches. White Sands Dive Shop https://whitesandsdiveshop.com/

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390984 10/25/10 08:02 AM
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 84,404 oregon, spr Marty OP
OP Marty	The sun comes up tomorrow...... This morning in San Pedro.....

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390985 10/25/10 08:05 AM
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 84,404 oregon, spr Marty OP
OP Marty	Aerial view of Hurricane Richard this morning....

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390986 10/25/10 08:08 AM
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 84,404 oregon, spr Marty OP
OP Marty	Hidden Valley Inn: we all made it through the night, we will have alot of clean up work today. We lost an old mango tree at the staff quarters and our ripe grapefruits, well, we expect they will be popping up in weird and wonderful places Thank you everyone for your thoughts and well wishes!

Re: Hurricane Richard Marty #390987 10/25/10 08:12 AM
Joined: Oct 1999 Posts: 84,404 oregon, spr Marty OP
OP Marty	Richard weakens to a tropical storm over Guatemala Reuters CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Richard was downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday as it moved across northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico after battering Belize. The storm was expected to further weaken to a tropical depression before it enters Mexico's Bay of Campeche on Monday night or early Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said. The bay produces more than two-thirds of Mexico's 2.6 million barrels-per-day of crude output. The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (105 kph), was centred about 170 miles (275 km) southeast of Campeche, Mexico, at 4 a.m. CDT (10 a.m. British time). It was moving west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). The storm would likely not strengthen again once it enters the Gulf of Mexico at the Bay of Campeche, the Miami-based hurricane centre said. Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, said it was watching the storm but had not evacuated any workers from its offshore platforms. Vessels continued to service the platforms late into Sunday night, Pemex said. "We're still operating normally and monitoring (the storm)," a Pemex spokesman said. In September, Hurricane Karl forced a brief shutdown of 14 minor Mexican wells in the Gulf, with no significant impact on production. Most computer forecasting models suggest the storm would steer clear of major oil installations in the U.S. Gulf. Richard is expected to produce 3 to 6 inches (8-15 cm) of rain across northern Guatemala and the Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Campeche, the hurricane centre said. Richard made landfall on Sunday just south of Belize City, blowing roofs off houses and knocking out electricity as tourists and residents huddled in emergency shelters. The government of Belize, an impoverished country of about 330,000 people, reported no injuries or deaths from the storm, which came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane, the lowest rank on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale. It forced families to flee their houses and move into shelters along the coast, said Noreen Fairweather, coordinator of the country's emergency services organisation. NO MAJOR DAMAGE She said no major damage had been reported beyond broken windows and roofs blown off a few poorly constructed homes. "Our windows are shuttered so we can't see anything, but the wind is howling fiercely," said Myrna Harris, who moved all her guests and furniture to the second floor of the hotel she runs in Belize City. Heavy winds doubled over palm trees on Belize's coast, webcam images showed, and residents called a local radio station to report power outages and plead for help as rivers quickly rose. Before the storm touched land, hotels across southern Belize sent foreign travellers to inland shelters, the national tourism board said. Belize, a former British colony, is a popular destination for foreign tourists who are drawn to its lush jungles, palm-fringed cays and coral reef. Richard threatened to cause floods and mudslides as it crossed through northern Guatemala, though the head of the country's coffee growers' association said the coffee crop would probably not be affected. Mexico evacuated residents from Mayan villages on the Yucatan peninsula where many of the poor live in thatched huts. Richard knocked down trees and power lines on the islands off Honduras' north coast, whose white sandy beaches are popular with foreign tourists. Honduras' coffee crop will likely not be affected by the storm, said Dagoberto Suazo, a board member of the country's national coffee institute. Honduran authorities said electricity had been knocked out in some areas and mudslides had cut off dozens of villages. "Thank God we don't have any serious damage or deaths or injuries," said Lizandro Rosales, head of Honduras' emergency services committee. Richard was the 10th hurricane of the busy 2010 Atlantic storm season. Five of those hurricanes have been major, but the United States has escaped a significant landfall so far. (Writing and additional reporting by Jason Lange in Mexico City; Further reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Robert Campbell in Mexico City and Sarah Grainger in Guatemala City; Editing by Eric Beech)