On September 5 and 6 1996, CASI was fortunate enough to do a complete (in fact due to the track of the storm more complete than was intended) Live Storm Investigation of Hurricane Fran. Above is an animated-gif map tracking the progress of the CASI LSI against the progress of the Hurricane. Hurricane positions are those of the center of the eye (up to 30 miles wide at times) as provided by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Below is a frame by frame breakdown, followed by a link to the complete report including video capture, maps, and sound bytes.

FRAME 1: SEP 05, 1700 ET: The CASI Live Storm Investigation (LSI) began at 1700 Eastern Time on September 5, 1996. Member J. Ferrell leaves from South Raleigh around this time and heads south on I-40. Fran is almost 100 miles offshore.

FRAME 2: SEP 05, 1900 ET: Entering Sampson County, North Carolina, the Hurricane is less than 50 miles from shore. Heavy rains are ensuing as Member J. Ferrell drives through heavy rain bands spinning off the hurricane.

FRAME 3: SEP 05, 2100 ET: Member J. Ferrell exits I-40 on Route 117 in Wallace, North Carolina. The Hurricane's eye is making landfall at Southport, NC, less than 50 miles to the south. Travel has become almost impossible with roads nearly impassable do to standing water and debris, and a retreat to Headquarters is planned.

FRAME 4: SEP 05, 2300 ET: Returning to HQ on I-40, rain and wind hamper driving.

FRAME 5: SEP 06, 0100 ET: Shortly after arrival at Member J. Ferrell's place of work (an ISP where he attempts to gather Internet data on the storm), the power is lost to the city of Raleigh at about midnight. Between 12 and 1AM, the fiercest part of the Hurricane is ripping through Raleigh, with winds at Hurricane strength ripping and snapping trees all over the city. After having a good portion of a tree fall within a few feet of the car, Member J. Ferrell speaks to a Raleigh Police representative on Glenwood Avenue who informs him that all the major thoroughfares are closed by fallen trees and is asked to retreat from whence he came.

FRAME 6: SEP 06, 0300 ET: After updating his webpages concerning the storm, Ferrell attempts to drive to HeadQuarters once again. Taking the most direct route to the Interstate Beltline, he is finally successful in reaching HQ at 3:30AM after a short wait for Raleigh crews to saw a path through a tree that had fallen across I-440. The disentigrating eye of the storm is now passing just to the west of HQ in North Raleigh, and the winds have yet to abate. .

FRAME 7: SEP 06, 0500 ET: Member J. Ferrell attempts to get some well-deserved rest amidst falling trees at HQ. Winds are beginning to slow, and by sunrise are below Tropical Storm strength.

See Complete report including captured video and sound here.