02 09 08 Gustav From The Buoys
Mother Nature provides us with another encore opportunity to look at the progression of a hurricane from the weather buoys in the National Data Buoy Center system. These buoys vary considerably in ownership and observational mission. While many are owned by NOAA, others are the property of and/or maintained by regional universities while still others operate off oil and gas drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Most record air pressure, wind speeds, gusts, directions and water temperature. Some only record wind speeds and water currents and directions. Still others are tsunami warning buoys which measure wave heights.We begin with Buoy 42040, east of the southern tip of LA and about 65 miles south of Dauphin Isle, AL:
Buoy 42040 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
Next, right on that southern tip of LA is Pilots Station East at SW Pass, LA. This buoy recorded the highest wind gusts, just over 100 knots or nearly 120 mph:
Buoy PSTL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
Slightly further inland and west of Pilots Station East is the NOAA station at Grand Isle, LA:
Buoy GISL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
Moving inland, we first come to the Shell Beach, LA station:
Buoy SHBL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
and west of that, the Bayou Gauche, LA station which is also run by NOAA:
Buoy BYGL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
Interestingly, a bit further west, the lowest pressure of 28.50 in Hg was recorded at Amerada Pass, LA:
Buoy AMRL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
And just to show that a buoy and weather station's job is not an easy one, the buoy station at South Timbalier Block 52 off the south west coast of LA seems to have taken the second half of the day off:
Buoy SPLL1 Click for full size
Source: National Data Buoy Center
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