Sunday 31 August 2008

Hurricane update - 31 August (II)

Gustav is approaching New Orleans at a speed of about 18 mph. The storm appears to be intensifying, with winds currently at 115 mph. The National Weather Service has issued Hurricane Local Statements for the Gulf Coast. These can be accessed through the NHC website - if you are in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida, please read. In the case of Louisiana, as a matter of extreme urgency. Hurricane force winds will start to affect the Gulf Coast itself early tomorrow morning local time, with tropical storm force winds (i.e. galeforce and higher) from now onwards. Gustav is 215 miles from New Orleans, and the radius of tropical storm force winds is 220 miles.
Once Gustav makes landfall, it will probably grind to a halt and start to dump vast amounts of rain on Louisiana and surrounding states. It'll be up to 20 inches.

Once Gustav has disappeared off the weather maps, by the end of the coming week, the USA might be facing another hurricane hazard: Hanna. This is a tropical storm, affected by adverse atmospheric conditions as it approaches the Bahamas. After a jaunt southwest, the storm could well head northwest: into Georgia and South Carolina by the weekend. This is very long term, and the NHC isn't even sure about the short-term forecast for this system.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for all your hurricane updates. I appreciate all the postings.
    Kathi

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keeping everyone in its path in my prayers. May Gustav pass over without too much damage.
    hugs Jayne

    ReplyDelete
  3. I live right next to the bay here in Tampa and it is usually very calm...no waves ever.  Tonight I looked out and the waves are rolling in, the water is crashing over the rocks.  It is quite the site to see, we didn't hardly have a ripple in the water when Fay was heading our way but with Gustav it is another story.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Guido... I always know where to come for an update!!

    Joann

    ReplyDelete
  5. God help all those poor battered people.   Love Sybil xx

    http://journals.aol.co.uk/sybilsybil45/villagelife/

    ReplyDelete