Katrina - 95 mph Gust, Tornado, 20 in. of Rain

Just some quick morning stats for Hurricane Katrina.

WINDS & TORNADO: I have been impressed with the wind gusts from this storm. A lot of times you don't see speeds even close to what you'd expect for the storm's category. A 95 mph gust was reported by UM/RSMAS last night. Port Everglades had an unofficial gust to 92 mph and NWS Miami measured an 87 mph gust yesterday evening. Winds have been gusting into the upper 70's mph at the CMAN stations in South Florida overnight. There has been at least one tornado at Key West this morning -- a report has been filed of 11 private aircraft damaged at Marathon airport.

RAIN: 13.24" of rain was reported by Homestead AFB from the storm (you may recall their pounding during Andrew - picture, story). Doppler radar indicates that up to 24 inches may have fallen in the Miami area (see image below from RadarPlus).

DAMAGE & DEATHS: 1.8 million lost power. Several people, unfortunately, have been killed by this storm, mostly by falling trees. I think its quick development and supposed mediocre strength have contributed to this.