2008 Hurricane Season

[Micah 16]

I'm just wondering where Gustav is heading. Florida for sure, but it looks like it could later head to Louisana or even Texas.

[sedimenjerry 1]

Hopefully skip Florida but then curve NE to go through AL, GA, and the Carolinas where the drought is still Exceptional.

But this time maybe go a little farther north to avoid the flatter areas with the flooding.

[Jazzmaster 716]

Nope, not here in Florida.  A high pressure system is blocking it thus far, it could change but I doubt that at the moment.  But it could become a major hurricane and strike New Orleans...as a Category 4 storm possibly...

I'd ask if that rings any bells, but those bells are still ringing after 3 years.

[Micah 16]

Interesting. So it didn't go to Florida afterall.

Still looks like it's coming towards Louisana and still Texas.... uh oh.

[sedimenjerry 1]

Basically, Fill up your tanks now.

This plus Labor Day, disaster.

[Red1530 1]

Hurricane Gustav as of August 27, 0000 UTC, has maximum sustain winds of 75 MPH. Also I think the price of oil should be posted beginning tomorrow.

[cityhawk 12]

I live in Mobile, AL, and I hope Gustav misses us, but I'd rather it hit us than New Orleans or the Mississippi Gulf Coast because they don't need any trouble, especially considering Friday is the three year anniversary of Katrina.

[connorc24 2]

I predict that hurricane Gustav will make landfall between Mobile and New Orleans right about Gulfport at strong Category 3 after rapid strengthening in the Gulf. Right now its well on its way to becoming a strong Category 2 in the next 2 days if it doesn't get too close to Cuba.

[Jazzmaster 716]

The remnants of Fay are dumping rain in the northeast, very strong Tropical Storm Gustav is eying Louisana and Texas, and a new minimal Tropical Storm, Hannah, could pose a threat to the east coast of Florida. 2005 anyone?

[Micah 16]

I don't think you can compare this season to 2005. The fact that we haven't had a Cat. 5 and I sincerely doubt we will reach the Greek alphabet means that this is just a regular hurricane season unlike the historic 2005 season.

[hym 358]

Unless I'm mistaken, we won't ever reach the Greek alphabet again. It was retired after 2005.

[connorc24 2]

Then where does it go after the last name???

[Jazzmaster 716]

I actually recall a point in 2005 where two storms formed at once, but the difference was, I only remember one of them being a minimal hurricane threatening land. Now we have what will probably become a major hurricane, and another one that seems well on it's way, making landfall within a close time proximity of each other. And I'm not sure how having 2 tropical entities and 3 possible tropical entities all at once could be compared to an average season...unless you mean 2004?

[sedimenjerry 1]

If Gustav does stregthen to a Cat 3 by US landfall and makes landfall somewhere south of LaFayette or Baton Rouge, We could be dealing with a storm even worse than Katrina. (For New Orleans)

That top right quadrant often has the strongest winds and heaviest rainfall. And the strom surge will back the Mississippi up.

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: hym

Unless I'm mistaken, we won't ever reach the Greek alphabet again. It was retired after 2005.quote>

According to this site, they just started using the Greek alphabet in 2005.

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: SkiGeek

Originally posted by: hym

Unless I'm mistaken, we won't ever reach the Greek alphabet again. It was retired after 2005.quote>

According to this site, they just started using the Greek alphabet in 2005.quote>

I'll have to see if I can find a site explaining what I'm talking about (more than likely, I probably won't).  I do however remember hearing a meteorologist say that while 2005 was the first year they had to break out the Greek alphabet, it wasn't the first year that the policy of Greek names was in place.  It was just the first year they had ever had to use it.  According to said meteorologist, following the 2005 season, officials decided that they didn't like the whole Greek alphabet name policy, so they replaced it with a quasi "name wrap" policy what would result in going back through the alphabet (different names this time) instead of using Greek letters.

Now, it is entirely possible that the guy I mentioned is wrong.  I just know that I heard it said that the Greek alphabet policy was dropped following 2005.

[hawkpride147 1]

i think i remember hearing something like that hym...

as for gustav, it likely will be a cat 3 storm when it makes landfall somewhere just west of new orleans, but i've seen reports that it could get as strong as a cat 4 when it hits. hannah also looks like it will turn back toward florida and looks like it will slam the keys before plotting a path somewhat similar to gustav...we may not have as active of a season, but we could very well see some damage that rivals it. the good thing now is that louisiana has mandatory evacuation of new orleans at cat 3 or stronger according to reports...so people shouldn't be there so hopefully it will just be damage and no lost lives.

[Jazzmaster 716]

yeah, umm, Gustav has sustained winds of 150mph now...

As much as feeling sorry for New Orleans won't do a damned thing, I can't help but but feel sorry for them after a triple slam.

[patriots_1228 51]

new orleans is screwed. If not tommorow, then soon.

Global Warmings first victim.

[socalwu 0]

Gustav is a Category 4 right now even bigger than Hurricane Katrina that was a Category 3.

But everything has all been planned out for the area. There already start evacuate people out of New Orleans. With the free bus service out of here and huge traffic jams on the highway.

It won't be so bad.

And it's for sure hitting New Orleans.

[Ntq€310 1]

hmmmmmm the planning for dealing with this storm is much better then katrina, much much better. It's just sad that you have to have a city being destroyed to get infanstructer and planning toned up.

[snickm 2]

I don't think it's going to hit NO directly. It'll probably hit just south of Houma, but here in BR & in NO we'll get the brunt of the storm. My wife & I are trying to decide whether to leave in the morning to head north. Baton Rouge usually doesn't suffer too bad from the hurricanes, but this one is worrying me!

I agree with y'all about the planning. People have been preparing now for a few days & tomorrow morning the contraflow on the interstates & the major highways begins all through south Louisiana. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of 2005...

[SimRabbit 48]

3 years ago, New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, and now this....

It must be really sad for those who lost everything two years ago and now they are hit again. What a cruel life for them.

[hawkpride147 1]

so will the army corps of engineers follow through with what they said they would do if something like katrina happens again? i believe they said new orleans could be shut down permanently if the city sustains as much damage as it did last time...and that is looking likely...a cat 4 like i predicted and now possibly will get to cat 5 (likely to strike as a strong cat 4). thank goodness we learned from katrina and mandatory evacs start at 8AM CDT tomorrow. and thankfully louisiana learned contraflow from texas (contraflow makes all the interstates and interstate standard highways run one way away from the primary target area).

@ socalwu katrina actually got up to cat 5 before making landfall as a cat 3...

[Jazzmaster 716]

Originally posted by: Ntq$310 hmmmmmm the planning for dealing with this storm is much better then katrina, much much better. It's just sad that you have to have a city being destroyed to get infanstructer and planning toned up.quote>

Actually, this is sort of thing raises two points of mine.  For one thing, it's obvious the area that New Orleans is located is too damn dangerous for an urban sprawl like that.  It's getting pounded every few years which is probably due cause for many people people to move the hell out for good.

This sort of thing is also we shouldn't be drilling for oil offshore, because whenever a hurricane hits gas prices spike.  I'd go more into that but that would be off-topic.

Also, while New Orleans won't be getting a direct hit, what will probably happen is much worse.  They're getting the right front quadrant, which with the counterclockwise rotation of a hurricane, will cause all the storms, winds, and most of all, waters of the gulf, to be pushed on-shore.  Much of the right front quadrant actually got blown up towards the Florida Penninsula, causing a power outage for a few hours yesterday (and there's some medium sized branches that fell out).  Just think, if a storm that far away is causing severe weather for Tampa, imagine what it will do to New Orleans, and what it already did to Cuba.  I hate to sound pessimistic, but it's better to be safe than sorry, which appears to be the case this time (thank god).

Patriots_1228: New Orleans is screwed. If not tommorow, then soon.

Global Warming's first victim.quote>

Actually I'd like to think that the polar areas to our extreme north and south are our first victim, but you're right if you mean first populated victim.

[Duke87 1,070]

I'm not liking the looks of that at all....

[Easy Bakes 253]

Not looking good.

how bad did Cuba get nailed?

[belfastuniguy 18]

New Orleans declares storm curfew

Mayor Ray Nagin warned residents that trailer homes may 'become projectiles'

Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans has put the US city under curfew from sunset to dawn as Hurricane Gustav approaches.

New Orleans residents have been fleeing in their thousands after the mayor ordered the evacuation ahead of the storm's expected landfall on Monday.

Roads out of the Louisiana port have been crammed with traffic.

Mr Nagin said that the first storm winds could hit New Orleans as early as daybreak on Monday and the hurricane could reach Category Four strength.

America's homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said the main evacuation was going well but he warned that some people seemed determined to ride out the storm.

Predicted route of Hurricane Gustav (31 August 2008) In pictures

"That strikes me as exceptionally foolish," he said and appealed for the "maximum level of co-operation from the individual public".

The evacuation comes almost exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

In 2005, three-quarters of the city was flooded after a storm surge breached its protective levees. More than 1,800 people died in coastal areas.

Gustav weakened to a Category Three storm (with winds of up to 125mph; 201km/h) after hitting Cuba overnight, but was expected to regain strength in the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall again.

A hurricane watch is in place from Texas along to the Alabama-Florida border.

'Big, ugly storm'

Outlining the phased, mandatory evacuation of the city, Mayor Nagin warned any potential looters that they would go straight to prison.

FLASHBACK TO KATRINA Katrina struck US Gulf Coast in August 2005 as a category three storm, killing more than 1,800 people New Orleans was 80% flooded after storm surge breached protective levees US Government was blamed for slow, botched response that exacerbated disaster Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced Republican convention scaled down Flashback: Hurricane Katrina

Though he did not repeat his earlier forecast that Gustav would be "the storm of the century", he described it as "big and ugly".

News that it had speeded up on its route in from the Gulf of Mexico was some good news, he added.

Earlier, he warned that in the West Bank area of New Orleans, the highest levees were just eight to 10 feet, and were at risk from storm surges that could be as high as 24 feet.

The floodwalls of the Harvey Canal - a waterway designed to protect residents from surges in Lake Pontchartrain - were not yet completed, the mayor said, warning that water would "punch through holes" and flood nearby areas.

On the main roads out of New Orleans, traffic now flows in the same direction along both carriageways, carrying a stream of family vehicles to the relative safety of the north, the BBC's Kevin Connolly reports.

Many of the city's major hotels are shutting down and tourists have been advised to leave before the airport closes too, our correspondent says.

At the city's main transit terminal, reports said a line snaked for more than a mile as residents waited to board buses bound for shelters in north Louisiana and beyond.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, in New Orleans to observe the evacuation, said on Sunday that anyone still in the coastal area should leave now.

Convention dilemma

Republican Party presidential hopeful John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin were travelling to Mississippi on Sunday to observe storm preparations.

It is like a dream that is repeating itself after three years, only this time it is more intense

William Ascencio, Gretna, Louisiana

The Republican National Convention is due to open on Monday in Minnesota and officials are considering what to do about the gathering.

Mr McCain hinted there might be changes to the tone of the event, rather than a cancellation.

The White House has confirmed that neither President George W Bush nor Vice-President Dick Cheney will attend the convention because of the hurricane.

Mr Bush is due to visit Texas to oversee hurricane emergency efforts there.

He will not have forgotten the stinging criticism levelled at the way he handled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the BBC's Jack Izzard reports from Washington.

Mr McCain, for his part, will know that the approaching storm may starve the convention of the media coverage he so desperately needs, our correspondent adds.

Gustav claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Caribbean, causing widespread damage in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica over the past week.

At least 300,000 people were evacuated in Cuba as the storm brought extensive flooding and some severe damage, but no reports of deaths.quote>

[Ntq€310 1]

Yoshiisland: yea i disagree with you about oil, besause any disaster anywhere causes that to happen.

But yea new orleans was built in a very supid location, Who builds a city under sealevel, and the olny thing keeping it alive are walls?

[Ntq€310 1]

Yoshiisland: yea i disagree with you about oil, besause any disaster anywhere causes that to happen.

But yea new orleans was built in a very supid location, Who builds a city under sealevel, and the olny thing keeping it alive are walls?