What category was hurricane Katrina?

Answer 1

Hey jandsmerritt,

It reached 5, but the storm weakened considerably before making its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 storm on the morning of August 29 in southeast Louisiana and at the Louisiana/Mississippi state line, respectively.

Answer 2

Katrina's category was changed several times during its duration. Here's the evolution:

Aug 24th - Upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina while still in the Atlantic

Aug 25th - Upgraded to 4th hurricane of the season just before 1st landfall in coastal florida.

Aug 26th - Downgraded to Tropical Storm as she entered the gulf.

Aug 27th - Upgraded to Category 3 in the Gulf

Aug 28th - Upgraded to Category 4 at 12:40am, and then quickly intensified and became a Category 5 at 7:00am - and the 4th most intense Atlantic hurricane on record.

Aug 29th - Made 2nd and 3rd landfalls (now in louisiana and other gulf states) as a Category 3 hurricane. Although the eye was at 3, some of the winds were still at 4. The damage resulted from high pressures and the sheer SIZE of the hurricane. It's size caused the storm surges on the shore, not so much its intensity.

The hurricane continued up through the states and was downgraded to a tropical depression in northern Mississippi. It actually split in half in Tennessee, and continued on to be felt even by the Great Lakes...

But the key thing to remember was not the category of the hurricane, but her size. The levees broke and the damage along the coast was mostly due to storm surges created by her size.

The link below helped alot in my answer. Hope it helps you!

Answer 3

When it hit Florida Cat 1, when it was in the Gulf, Cat 5, just a few hours before hitting New Orleans, Cat 3.

Thursday, August 25, 2005
"Katrina made its first landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane near Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Miami-Dade/Broward county line"

Sunday, August 28, 2005
Just after midnight, at 12:40 AM CDT (0540 UTC), Hurricane Katrina reached Category 4 intensity with 145 mph winds. By 7:00 AM CDT (1200 UTC), it was a Category 5 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h), "

Monday, August 29, 2005
"At 6:10 AM CDT (1110 UTC), Hurricane Katrina made its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana, with sustained winds of more than 125 mph (201 km/h). Katrina also made landfall in St. Bernard parish and St. Tammany parish for a total of three landfalls in Louisiana."

Answer 4

The question is, at what point in time was Katrina in the various categories. Going from memory, it rapidly developed to category 2 in the Atlantic, then exploded into a category 5 in the Gulf. Luckily, it lost energy rather than gained as it approached shallow water and dropped through level 4 prior to landfall and made level 3 at landfall. It then broke down through categories 2 and 1 very quickly, but the storm surge lead to much more destruction than the Safir-Simpson rating would indicate.

Interestingly, this same sort of effect led to the destruction in Maryland from hurricane Isabelle, though the areas affected were above sea level so the flooding was nowhere near as widespread as in Katrina.

Answer 5

You can find the entire path of Katrina at this site along with dates and positions.

http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/pastgraphics.asp?year=2005&storm=k&ocean=atlantic

Answer 6

3 From Memory

Answer 7

It made landfall as a Catagory 3

Answer 8

At one time while it grew to become into out at sea. Landfall grew to become right into a type a million.....thank God. Its nonetheless a bad typhoon with ninety mph winds and rains. If it stalls over land the rainfall will reason the main harm.

Answer 9

No No You PPLZ..

it was a 5 in the gulf ... and RIGHT When it hit New Orleans . .it turned into a 4

Answer 10

Really bad.