Marine High Wind — Waters From Baffin Bay To Pt Mansfield Tx Ext From 20 To 60nm, Gulf of Mexico

2017-08-25 · near S Baffin Bay, Waters From Baffin Bay To Pt Mansfield Tx Ext From 20 To 60nm, Gulf of Mexico

Event narrative

NOAA Buoy 42020 (LLNR 1330, Corpus Christi, TX 60 NM SSE) recorded moderate tropical storm force winds with at least one gust to hurricane force (64 knots). The strong winds unmoored the buoy, which remained adrift into the autumn and eventually stopped recording completely in mid October. The extent of the damage was unknown as of this writing. A Texas A&M experimental research buoy, located very near or within the core eyewall, went offline prior to the arrival of the strongest winds whose value could only be estimated to be sustained hurricane force. Damage to this buoy (56 nm east of the northeast Kenedy County coast) was unknown as of this writing.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Harvey moved from 90 nautical miles (nm) east of the mouth of the Rio Grande during the pre-dawn hours of August 25th to 71 nm east of the Cameron/Willacy County line by 7 AM, and finally, approximately 51 nm east of the Baffin Bay area (along the Kenedy/Kleberg County line) by mid afternoon on its way to landfall north of Port Aransas and near the Rockport area by 10 PM. Sustained tropical storm force winds were recorded at several platforms, mainly along and north of Port Mansfield, TX from late morning through afternoon. Hurricane force gusts reached the waters at least 37 nm east of the Kenedy County coast, as the rapidly intensifying hurricane attained Category 3 status in a 20 to 25 nm radius around the eye. Two buoys were knocked offline and may have sustained damage from the hurricane force gusts.

Though no known damage was reported, observations platforms within Laguna Madre north of Port Mansfield (GMZ135) carried sustained tropical storm force winds. Rincon del San Jose, near the land cut in central Kenedy County, reported sustained winds of 34 knots at 12:36 PM CST, and Baffin Bay (along the Kenedy/Nueces Border) reported a prolonged period of tropical storm sustained winds from 12:36 through 9:30 PM, peaking at 44 knots at 4:30 PM.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (26.9680, -96.6940)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 720928. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.