Katrina sustained wind speeds observed along the Mississippi coast

There were several key near-surface, nearly-continuous, sustained wind observations near the Mississippi coast during Katrina. These include Ingalls Shipyard, Florida Coastal Monitoring Program at Trent Lott International Airport, and Cherokee Elementary School, all three near Pascagoula, and the Texas Tech towers at the Stennis International Airport located northwest of Bay St. Louis. And the search continues for others.

Observations will be compared to National Hurricane Center best-track wind speed estimates and to the Hurricane Research Division HWind analysis. Observations suggest that the best-track 1-min wind speed estimate of 120 mph during Katrina's Mississippi landfall is a bit too high.