I'm told that evacuations have already begun in New Orleans and the surrounding area.
Good. Take care and get safe.
One of the people evacuating at a gathering point said:
Better safe than sorry, I know what sorry feels like.
hard won wisdom.
I hope they get those folks out this time. This is not going to be good. I feel helpless once again watching this.
"Rapid intensification" it's called.
It's a formal meteorological term.
With minimal chance for shear, and the bathtub waters of the GOM coming up, it was practically a given.
And it may not be over yet.
In 2005 hurricane Wilma dropped 100 millibars in 24 hours. She also dropped some meteorologists jaws when she did it, and when she went down to 882 mb's of central pressure.
It remains the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the western hemisphere. Fortunately, this happened before landfall, and by the time she hit Cozumel she was "down" to 150 mph sustained winds, instead of the 185 at her peak strength when she was east of the Yucatan peninsula.
She was another short-run storm, dawdling around as just a low, well south of Cuba, for a couple of days, and then getting into favorable conditions east of Belize, where she exploded practically overnight.
Gustav is still about 750 miles SE of it's CURRENTLY projected landfall in the middle of the Louisiana boot.
Western Cuba is going to get hammered. Little chance for a meaningful reduction in intensity this late, for them.
And then there's that long, uninterrupted fetch right through the middle of the GOM. No way to know just what will happen when it gets away from Cuba, but most of the models point to conditions which are scary to contemplate. If it's 145 now, over that small Island south of Cuba, and with western Cuba, itself, surely inhibiting some of the outflow, and if there's no shear to break up the convective process some, when it comes off Cuba, then the fat could really be in the fire for the central gulf coast. For sure the evacuation procedures are kicking in, as we speak. But, regardless of that, the property damage could be astronomical.
I would have left this morning.
Because it's coming on the heels of Katrina, which is fresh in everyone's mind, this is going to be one closely watched hurricane.
No footdragging from bushCo on this one. In an election year, after what happened to New Orleans 3 years ago, post-landfall, junior's going to be spending more time in Louisiana than any five cajuns.
I have friends visiting in NOLA right now. They said the traffic is so bad already that they are going to wait until late tonight to try to get out. Everything is locked up bumper-to-bumper right now.
A serious problem is the levee construction isn't done yet and N.O. may actually be more of a sitting duck then it was when Katrina hit.
Gustav is supposed to reach Category 5 strength by Sunday afternoon. How much it weakens before making landfall is subject to debate. However, we have to remember that Katrina was only a Category 3 storm when it made landfall. Coming in, Gustav appears to be going to track to the NW whereas Katrina tracked to the NE. I don't know which will be worse.
Please everyone be sensible and get out ASAP.
And let's watch the glee.
Michael Moore was on Olberman last night and he was positively gleeful at the approach of Gustav timed perfectly to coincide with the GOP convention. Talked about how it looked like God was on the Dem's side. He then backpedaled but the damage was done.
I have absolutely no use for that sort of bullshit. Whether it's GOP fundies praying for rain during Obama's speech or lefties cheering a hurricane during the GOP convention.
This looks like a scary storm and a whole lot of people are going to be hurt and have their lives ruined.
It was thoughtless, and is just more ammo for the assholes. But there's been a 5-and-a-half-year "hurricane" squatting on top of Iraq, courtesy of bush and the republicans, and the casualties from it are anything BUT in the hundreds.
That doesn't excuse Moore's foolishness, but if we want to start counting damage to lives and property, then there's a large middle-eastern country that needs to be toted up.
BTW, contrary to what bush may believe, it wasn't an "act of god" either.
Well, Michael Moore may be an ass for what he said, but McSame's campaign is trying desperately to get him down to the Gulf Coast after the storm so he can campaign on the floating bodies. Apparently those folks aren't any good to the GOP unless they're being shat on by a storm and dying; then they're useful as political props. We need to call the GOP down for this... McSame has NO business being there unless he wants to help evacuate people off-camera.
Otherwise, he's just a lying horse's ass who is using poor people to save his campaign. Once he's elected, those same poor people would just have to eat shit, as far as he's concerned.
Oh, it's going to be a photo-op roundpound, for republicans looking to avoid another Katrina-slagging.
I expect the entire GOP congressional team to find a way down there, post-landfall; so they can mug for the cameras in pseudo-proletarian rolled-up shirtsleeves, while they ladle soup and dispense largesse.
We left NO yesterday for our hurricane refuge in Jackson, MS. A three hour drive took five. If we'd waited till today it would have been six, eight, maybe twelve.
I'm getting pretty good at this evacuation thing. Wish I didn't have to.
Monday morning, a few hours before landfall, and I hear there's no closed eyewall. Good news.... Relatively.
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