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At 10 a.m. CDT August 27, NHC issued a hurricanc watch for southeast Louisiana, including metropolitan New Orleans. (All references henceforth in this scction arc in CDT.) Accordingly, WFO New Orleans/Baton Rouge issued its first MLS for Katrina, which mentioned that while some uncertainty remained about the exact landfall location, the storm surge threat would be significant - up to 1X feet.
August 27 was a pivotal day for coordination, operations, and facility preparation. The office reviewed its hurricanc staffing and operations plan, developed an operations schedule, and an additional forecaster from WFO Melbourne, FL, was brought in to assist with operations during Katrina. The office also finalized its facility preparations in coordination with the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) by topping off the generator fuel tanks, purchasing additional food, and obtaining cots. Meanwhile, the WFO management team led the coordination effort with area emergency managers and decision-makers.
By the evening of August 27, confidence was increasing on the landfall area, and TPC/NHC posted a hurricanc warning that included southeast Louisiana and coastal Mississippi. The HLS issued at 10:30 p.m. emphasized the increasing likelihood of a significant hurricane landfall with storm surge of 15 to 20 feet possible.
The HLS issued at 4 a.m. August 28 highlighted the potential storm surge impacts to motivate residents in coastal sections of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi to heed the advice of local emergency management officials. It indicated storm surge potential of up to 25 feet.
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(a)	(b)
Figure 9. Snapshot of experimental NDFD gridded forecasts of (a) wind speed, wind direction, and (b) wave heights for the north Gulf coast region issued at 6 a.m., August 28, and valid at 7 a.m., August 29 - about 24 hours prior to landfall.
Figure 9 shows a snapshot of National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD ) experimental gridded forecasts of wind speed, wind direction, and wave heights for the
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