Felix Slams Into Nicaragua AKA The Miskito Coast

Where Cat 5 Felix Made Landfall



Category Five Hurricane Felix slammed into the Nicaragua/Honduras border around 8am this morning into a region known as the Miskito Coast, famous for small Miskito Indian fishing villages and low lying swamps and beaches.



It's not a very populated area unless of course you're a Miskito Indian yet Felix seemed to find it. So it seems have a lot of drug smugglers from Columbia but that's another story. Most Americans are not as familiar with the Miskito coast of Nicaragua as they are of the tourist spots to the north on the Honduras coast known for tropical beaches, diving, tourism and further north you find the casino resorts of beautiful Belize.

Generally the Miskito Indians do their commute in little canoes, not very good for evacuating from low lying swampy coastal villages and it will take time to know how they survived the storm. A pic here of similar canoes says much about how rural the area Felix found his way to really is...



Nicaragua which is still recovering from it's war torn history now has to deal with recovery from a Category Five hurricane attacking it with 160 mile per hour winds. No matter how small the cities or villages there will be a great loss of life and the need for much money to rebuild, relocate and revive what is left of their community for the survivors. Further inland, there are more villages in the mountainous regions and we are waiting to hear the reports of mudslides or other tragedies that may have affected the remote villages.

Large, strong feeder bands from Felix far removed from the 160 mile per hour winds are lashing parts of Honduras as the storm remains a very wet large system that still covers a large part of the water from which it receives it's source of energy. As the coastline there is horizontal East to West that means a good part of Felix remains over water and can keep going longer than if a storm had slammed north into say Mississippi. Felix also will transverse most of Central America on it's way west towards the Pacific Ocean.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/carb/loop-avn.html

The above loop at 3pm shows the large NE quadrant from Felix that is still over water generating strong weather across the coastline of Honduras that will soon also affect the coastline of Belize.

This story is far from over even though the winds have died down and the eye of the storm is no longer visible on satellite imagery. The core of the storm though is very visible and is still moving west or south of west possibly through the region exactly the way the GFDL model forecasted it would do so. Rain from the system may get caught up in prevailing winds and move north into Mexico, Texas and beyond but Felix will not make it into the Bay Of Campeche for another landfall... depending on forward speed he may re-emerge into the Pacific but that's down the pike and a while off.

Leaving some links here to view information about the area that is not so well known that Felix has now put on the maps for the rest of us to discover.

In other areas... my brother Ronnie called to tell me that WIOD radio in Miami was telling people to watch out for that area off the coast of Florida which could develop and reminding them that Felix intensified fast from nowhere. Not sure if WIOD really said that (if so.. someone needs a good lesson in why not to scare or mislead the public) or if my brother Ronnie lost something in the translation but... yes, we will watch the area for any signs of intensification but it will probably go out to sea eventually. The GFDL and GFS do have some doomsday scenario where it drives up I95 all the way to New York City but that will probably get changed in later rewrites.. I mean model runs :) I'm sorry, I know the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 developed fast but this invest currently known as 99 is not going to be a replay of Felix or the 35 Labor Day Storm. And, if it develops it most likely will lollygag around the area before being finally picked up and taken out to sea by the next front moving off the Atlantic Coast. We'll see.. soon enough.

Oh look.. now ALL the spaghetti strands point north..
http://www.skeetobiteweather.com/picservice.asp?t=m&m=99
stay tuned they may droop south again soon...

If you want to follow the continued Saga of Invest 99 off of the SE Coast you can watch the etch-a-sketch graphics being provided by Skeetobite (posted above) who does an excellent job with his excellent site.

More links to data about the region being affected can be found on www.hurricanecity.com and www.flhurricane.com who both do a beautiful job of covering a storm from all the angles.

The NHC was on the money with it's track although Felix veered left at landfall instead of right but they've done a good job with two very consistent strong Category Five Storms in one summer, back to back. What will the rest of the season hold I wonder?

Here are a few cams from some beach resorts further from landfall but suffering from the bands of Felix:

http://www.cocoviewresort.com/camdock.html
http://www.cocoviewresort.com/cam.html
(not much is going on but you never know...pretty water)

General Info:
http://www.runet.edu/~gmartin/Nicaragua%20-%20Bocay%202.htm
incredible photos

if you speak Spanish or like to look at pictures
tv channel live on air
http://wwitv.com/t1/7371.asx

if you like long loops of purple canes making landfall:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/tatl/loop-wv.html

newslinks below:
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/09/04/939783-felix-slams-ashore-as-category-5-storm

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/09/04/ap4077915.html


See you all later, we all need a good rest before the next big one forms and that shouldn't be too far away as there are some beautiful waves coming off of Africa as you read this.

To the gang in Weather Chat at www.hurricanecity.com:
It was fun!

Take care and have a good day.. where ever you are please appreciate all the beauty you have around you and know that life is short and it can be taken away in a moment by some natural disaster or one of man's making. When I looked out at Miami Beach this morning on my way to work, how beautiful it looks stretched out like an emerald bracelet filled with shiny condos that looked like charms on a charm bracelet sparkling in the sun I was reminded again how it could and would all be blown away if a storm like Hurricane Felix were to make landfall at Arthur Godfrey Drive on Miami Beach. One big whooosh and it would take years for it to be recognizable again.

And if you don't think that can happen? You are living in a fool's paradise of denial. I am not in denial, I am very aware of how beautiful Miami Beach is and how lucky I am to live here and enjoy it but I know it is only a matter of time before a hurricane hits Miami Beach again the way the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 did and that was "only" a 4.. not a 5.




It's just a matter of time... when you live in the tropics.

Besos Bobbi