My cousin and her family evacuated New Orleans last night. I hope they're well into Texas by now. During Katrina they lost their dog in the excitement, and the wonder was they found her months later, I believe in a shelter. They weren't going to let that happen this time.

Be safe, be well, all of you.

It reached Category 5 shortly after it reached Category 4; there is every reason to believe it will be a Category 3 when it hits. The good news was that--after it went through the loop current, it did hit that patch of cold water I mentioned earlier. But it didn't seem to help that much because the hurricane had become so big by that time. We are now expecting very high winds here again--like we had three years ago--so we have no choice but to evacuate. We will be leaving very early in the morning.

Katrina wasn't that bad. We took the back roads, with two cats, to central Louisiana. This time we have to take four cats to Birmingham. But we have a lot more space this time. And at least I can watch the U.S. Open because there will be electricity!

Thank you, Terese, Anne and Tim.

Here is a photo album of our Katrina evacuation: http://dianeandorvin2.shutterfly.com/8

Here's the text of my latest hurricane post at http://www.seablogger.com/

"Hurricane Gustav is roaring across western Cuba. It made landfall with a central pressure of 941 mb, according to hurricane hunters. Sustained winds may have reached 150 mph. Naturally Gustav’s clear eye has filled with cloud as it passed over land, and the eyewall convection has diminished; but the core is intact, and it will be back over water in a few hours. Forward speed has increased to 15 mph, and the steering current has really steadied. As I watch the time-lapse imagery, I can see that Gustav has settled into alignment with the other weather systems in the region, and it will probably not deviate from its present track before Gulf Coast landfall. Because it is moving faster than previous projections suggested, it will bring more of its force to the coast.

"While Gustav wavered in the Caribbean, bouncing from island to island, I was hopeful that it would not reach the US as a major hurricane. Worst case scenarios rarely come to pass. First Gustav would have to escape the bind of other weather systems and mountainous terrain; then it would have to spin through a rapid intensification phase south of Cuba; finally it would have to find a strong steering current that would bear it swiftly across the Gulf before shear or cooling waters could weaken it. All these things have happened. Now it is just a question of where the eye goes ashore.

"If landfall occurs near Atchafalaya Bay or further west, the eyewall will pass safely SW of New Orleans. In that case conditions at the city should not severe enough to breach major levees, unless they are weaker than they were before Katrina. But if landfall occurs near Grand Isle, then New Orleans will be hammered by the northeast quadrant of the storm — the strongest part. Any of several towns along US 95 could find themselves directly in the path of Gustav’s eye as it moves inland. Houma is closest to New Orleans. Westward are Morgan City and New Iberia. All these places have been hit hard by hurricanes in the past."

Prayers have not been answered. This is going to be bad. But Jennifer will probably be on the weaker side of the storm.

Alan

Alan, Houma has been warned of possible 15-foot storm surge, and New Iberia of a possible 6-foot storm surge. Eek. Where I live, there is no chance of flooding, but the winds can get very high.

Here is a New York Times flash that just arrived
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Here is a link to the National Hurricane Centre which shows
Projected Wind Strength .

Looks like a nasty bastard.

I hope y'all are o.k. in the path of this thing.

Stay safe folks! I hope you're all okay.

~ Bruce

Looks pretty bad, with central pressure at 958 mb. Alan expects 120 mph winds at landfall, with it moving inland just southwest of New Orleans.

I'm in Birmingham with my husband, four cats, the U.S. Open, and enough software issues to keep me very occupied. The ride here was a big surprise. For 3 1/2 hours, the traffic was normal--only there were fewer people in the road. Not long before we approached our first Interstate highway turnoff, traffic slowed to almost a halt. We were caught in that for what seemed like a really long time. But once we got on the Interstate, everything was fine again. It normally takes us 5 hours to get to Birmingham; this trip took 7 1/2.

The sister cats had been through this evacuation scene before, and the slept through the trip. One of the younger ones talked for a long time, then he went to sleep. The other one, our resident drama queen, yelled and clawed his pet taxi and carried on every which way until I had the good sense to put some catnip in his pet taxi and put on some Maria Callas and Joni Mitchell (forgot to bring Mozart--a tried and true cat calmer). After that, the noise tapered off, and he went into a deep sleep.

They have done a bit of exploring of our suite, but not much.

Heart felt prayers for Jennifer and all Eratosphereans who fear the worst.

Janet