28 August 2008

Morning update from Taralyn's Obsessive Eye (TM)

Since waking up a few hours ago, I've done nothing but keep an eye on Gustav, on the steering currents, water temperatures, etc. I've been watching everything from the Weather Channel to Cuban radar stations. (The latter is showing a clear center of circulation closing in on Jamaica from the east at the time of this post.) These are the joys of having no job, no life, an innate sense for the weather and more computer equipment than some rural TV stations.

So, from what I've been observing and calculating, the only constant in this Gustav drama seems to be delay. When it first made hurricane strength, it was forecast to smack Louisiana around by Sunday. At this point, it's not even forecast to enter the Gulf til Sunday, and our date with annihilation's been shoved back to Tuesday.

The models have caused a shift in track back to the west. Now it's forecast to nail the Morgan City/Thibodaux/Houma area again. Of course, you can't predict that far ahead, it's all guesswork. Look at the track Fay ended up taking. No computer model could have predicted that. It could yet fool us all and give Texas or Florida another beating, or it could be the Nightmare Scenario and come right up the river. Or running over Jamaica could very well destroy it like running over Haiti nearly did. Point is, we still got to prepare for the worst until it is gone, dissipated, dead. Can't let your guard down just yet, people.

The one thing I'm noticing about the storm at this point is that the range of tropical storm force wind is still small in diameter. If anything, this is going to resemble Camille more than it'll resemble Katrina. Of course, I Am Not A Meteorologist here, but it's still a strong gut feeling. Surge will still be a concern when it hits, yes, but it won't be like Katrina.

Of course, as always, take this with a grain of salt, and for $deity's sake, be ready for anything.

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