Welcome to our special coverage of hurricane Claudette! This page will be the starting point for my field work updates. UPDATED: 3:40 AM EDT TUESDAY Right now I am about leave my office with all of the gear ready to go. My plane leaves Myrtle Beach jetport at 6:30am and heads to Charlotte. There, I will do another update and hope to post a photo or two. This mission should give you all an inside look at exactly what it takes to get in front of a storm- or in this case, hurricane, and gather data. Check back to this page often. I will post as much info here as possible during the day. UPDATED: 6:18 AM EDT TUESDAY I am on the plane in Myrtle Beach. It is really going to be a race against time. Claudette may beat me to shore before I get there. However, the winds will still be howling even if the center gets to shore before I arrive with my equipment. Wish me luck. The clock is ticking! UPDATED 7:55 AM TUESDAY I am now in Charlotte about to board plane for Houston. Almost there. Flight from Myrtle was beautiful- great sunrise! More later from Texas... UPDATED: 12:45PM EDT TUESDAY After a little delay in getting to Houston, I am on the ground safely. I have an SUV and am heading south on Hwy 59 towards Victoria. Look at the radar link below and you'll see why. I've got to keep moving- I'll update the info with pictures from Victoria about 1 hour. UPDATED: 3PM EDT TUESDAY I am now all set up with the anemometer (wind gage) and it is reading an average of 45 mph right now at the Lowe's parking lot in Victoria, Texas. There is a lot of damage here- but by a lot, I mean it is widespred. Nothing too serious- but numersous signs down, some structures damaged, power outages etc. I am going to drive around and get back into the eyewall. More info coming here in just a little bit- from the center of hurricane Claudette! UPDATED 4:05PM EDT TUESDAY Ok, I have been around the Victoria area and recorded winds as high as 73 mph. There are numerous trees down and even some minor structural damage. Victoria seems to be in the calm right now- at least the rain has let up. I am going to try to get over to Beeville where the eyewall is currently. I plan to post pictures later this evening. Right now I have to try to gather more wind data. I do have lots of good photos on the digital camera- I'll share them later on. UPDATED 5:25 PM EDT TUESDAY Here are some of the more dramatic pictures of the day. I'll have more on tonight....