Mods:

I know this is off the current topic but I found it very interesting.

I found an article suggesting that Katrina was a Cat 3 storm when it hit the Louisiana coastline and was a Cat 1 while it was over Lake Ponchatrain.

Here is an excerpt from the article:
"New, preliminary information, compiled by hurricane researchers, suggests the system struck southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29 with peak-sustained winds of 115 mph. That would have made it a Category 3 storm, still a major hurricane but a step down from the enormous destructive force of a Category 4.

Katrina might have further downgraded to a strong Category 1 system with 95-mph winds, when it punched water through New Orleans' levees, severely flooding most of the city and killing hundreds. The levees were designed to withstand a Category 3 storm."

Here is the link for the full article:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/breaking_news/12813868.htm

it's sort of splitting hairs. i really doubt that the spot winds in the eastern eyewall.. which didn't go over any of the listed areas, were at 145mph. the western eyewall had a good bit of decay when it came in and the strong winds probably weren't mixing to the ground. i'm not sure if the guys who published the article really got the gist of what the HRD guys were trying to say... though i could be mistaken. suffice to say it would be very odd to have a hurricane with a 920mb central pressure and 115mph winds. or rather stupid. -HF