Winds' strength more intense than expected
By Gregory A. Hall • ghall@courier-journal.com • September 15, 2008
The National Weather Service in Louisville had forecast a wind advisory for the area yesterday -- with sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph.
The reality was far more intense, with reports of winds between 60 and 70 mph.
The surprise came because the remnants of Hurricane Ike intensified as they headed northeast from southern Illinois, and a cold front behind the storm accelerated, said Angela Lese, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville.
"Whatever was left of Hurricane Ike just really accelerated to the northeast a lot quicker than expected," she said, noting the storm travelled from southern Illinois past Cleveland in about four hours. While the storm passed to the north of Louisville, "it drug that cold front through us," Lese said, which increased the winds ahead of it.
The changes from the forecast also meant the only rainfall received in the region was spotty and short lived, she said.
"Most of the rain went north," Lese said. "We just kind of ended up in a lull between thunderstorms along a squall line to our south (in Tennessee and farther south) and then the heavy rain associated with Ike to our north."
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