South Florida in the cone for it's first Tropical Storm this season.

What are we looking at?

It's coming though New England now. Just starting to see gusts near 30 in Portland, and expecting 40 by midnight.

Not a single report of sustained hurricane force wind anywhere. I ve looked at every buoy and coastal station ... 58 kts was the strongest wind reading, that was at federal point, north end of Blqd head. No hurricane force winds. Not in the Bahamas, not among the east coast. The cat 1 classification came from a few recon Measurement limited to the NE quadrant.

Bottom line they wanted to make sure people paid attention.

yep that has to be tornado. It s what happens here in Miami with Irma which passed 100 miles s weakening system. The 100+ boats sunk and the damage to piers was not consistent with the storm....

It would have been much better to explain that while this was a TS.... it had a large circulation that would take time to wind down, which could spawn tornadoes far away in bands and would have far reached effect. But that would mean trusting that the average person has an attention span long enough to listen. Very unlikely.

The NHC and NWS as well as world organizations have criteria on which they decide. It's not on winds at ground level. It's not on sea buoys. They make the decisions and they decided it was a hurricane twice during it's run for brief times. Now, you want to make up your own definition and decide you know better than they do. Regardless, you don't have the control, so officially it was briefly a hurricane but it did most of the damage as a tropical storm.

The damage has nothing to do with classification

educate yourself, it has everything to do with sustained winds at sea level... recon either use drop sonde or extrapolate from flight level winds... or in the absence of recon like when a storm is too far for recon to get in, they use satellite imagery to estimate the surface winds.

The surface wind estimate or observation determination the classification. Nothing else.

The officials in charge call it a Hurricane. I value their opinion more than I do yours, thank you. It officially was a hurricane, regardless of what you say. It will go down in history that way.

Don't do all your "educate yourself" crap. I know what you're saying but it's completely irrelevant. What you observed doesn't determine anything.

“The NHC and NWS as well as world organizations have criteria on which they decide. It's not on winds at ground level”

actually at the risk of stating the obvious... the N in NHC and NWS stand for “National”. No world. World is the WHO and we all know how that turned out

look up Saffir Simpson scale and see what it is based on.

It's tough to see any marina damage, let alone at a place you know and love. Southport Marina is a favorite stop for us and countless cruisers along the ICW. Here's part of the note Manager Hank Whitley sent out late last night:

"I’m not gonna sugar-coat it y’all, it’s been a rollercoaster of a day for the Southport Marina team... Hurricane Isaias showed us it’s NE quadrant eyewall, along with a possible tornado overnight. Our docks are devastated, boats are scattered, facility has significant damage, but our spirit is very much in tact. We have navigated a myriad of issues today, with the help of SO many kind people! We have an awesome team that truly cares about our customers and our business. We also have an incredible bunch of customers who have poured their hearts into supportive texts, calls, and emails that helped me through a few private breakdowns along the way today... We are strong, we are proud, we are resilient, and we WILL rebuild. But first, we have lots and lots of pieces to pick up... We are well underway with our cleanup efforts .."

The entire marina broke loose. Similar to Ft. Pierce Municipal marina floating docks broke loose years back in a hurricane and many boats were piled up against a bridge.

This storm had a significant disparity contrasting upper level winds (where the Hurricane Hunters fly and measure) as compared to what folks on the ground experienced. Then there was this one cell in the NE quadrant that we saw showing its own vortex periodically. Obviously that portion of the system was lurking as a potential for tornados. I think that's what happened, what caused the impacts. If that cell came through your zip code you were in harms way. If you missed it (like all of Florida) you were in pretty good shape, although a 30 MPH wind can still break a tree that hasn't been maintained well.

Once one section goes, that weight and added load to the next section begins a domino. This is somewhat avoidable, but it requires more investment and more thoughtful engineering. I know nothing about the construction methods used at Southport as I typically run through the Frying Pan and miss this area, but it's a bit of a head scratcher, both the damages as well as the volume of boats left in the water with plenty of notice.

I'll scratch my head and not cast aspersions.