This is a sample of my Hurricane Opal chase footage. This video was taken during Opal's landfall in the western Florida panhandle, at Fort Walton Beach, on October 4, 1995. A day prior to landfall, Hurricane Opal had strengthened rapidly to near Category Five intensity, with sustained winds of 150mph and a minimum central pressure of 916mb (27.05in). During the following twelve hours the storm steadily weakened, however, Opal was still a very large and powerful Category Three at landfall, with sustained winds of 125mph and a central pressure of 942mb (27.82in). Hurricane conditions begin at about 3min 30sec into the video and the eyewall occurs from 4min 50sec through 7min 40sec in. Peak winds at my location were sustained between 100-110mph with gusts to 140mph. The highest officially recorded surface wind in Opal was a gust to 144mph at Hurlburt Field, near Mary Esther, Florida, in southwest Okaloosa county, which was three miles west of my location. The highest storm surge at my location was approximately 13ft and with the ground elevation at 8-10ft above sea-level, this resulted in a surge depth of 3-5ft, with higher waves. The peak surge and maximum inundation occurs just prior to the eye/calm at about 9min 40sec into the video. Though the eastern edge of Opal's eye did pass over my location, winds never fell below 20-30mph, I did record a minimum pressure of 960.3mb (28.36in) during this time.
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