Hurricane Isaac Database

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WSI Isaac Tracking Credit: WSI, Professional Division of The Weather Company

Hurricane Isaac made its first landfall on August 28 at 7:45 pm EDT in Plaquemines Parish, LA and a second landfall along the coast of southeast Louisiana, just west of Port Fourchon, at 3:15 am EDT [Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, U.S. Department of Energy]. Even though the Saffir-Simpson Scale has been significantly modified to assign greater importance to the storm surge rather than the wind speed [NWS 2009], the assignment of Category 1 to Isaac did not reflect the storm surge and flooding severity of the storm. According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, storm surge heights of 6 to 8 feet occurred along portions of the southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines on August 29, 2012. Consequently, the damage to the civil infrastructure and environment in the region has been much higher than expected for a Category 1. In addition, this storm has created extensive flooding due to heavy rainfall, which is the first major test of the rebuilt levee system in the New Orleans area post-Katrina.

This website is a product of the collaborative RAPID research project to catalog the weather-related hazards associated with Hurricane Isaac, before and after landfall, including metrics to characterize storm surge, freshwater flooding, rainfall and wind speed.

A detailed Tropical Cyclone Report of Hurricane Isaac can be found in National Hurricane Center's Data Archive, including synoptic history, meteorological statistics, casualties and damages, and the post-analysis best track.

Contact: reed(at)uw.edu


Collaborative Research Effort: UW BlockW UW CEE LSU LSU CAPTURE

Acknowledgment: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number CMMI 1263710 RAPID Collaborative for Hurricane Isaac.

Disclaimer: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number CMMI 1263710 RAPID Collaborative for Hurricane Isaac. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.