Toward the end of last week, we were tracking three storms. Hanna skipped up the East coast over the weekend, bringing heavy rain and creating mudslides in Springfield, Massachusetts. Josephine fizzled out in the Atlantic and that leaves just Ike. Over the weekend, Ike flared up to category 4 strength and made a hard left toward Haiti and Cuba. Now Ike is over Cuba, but its still a strong category 2 hurricane. While it will likely weaken a bit, it will emerge over warm Caribbean water and grow again.

By mid-week, I expect Ike to make a move toward the Gulf of Mexico. A high pressure ridge north of Ike continues to nudge it westward, but a developing trough in the upper levels of the atmosphere will swing across the U.S. and help lift Ike northward. So its general movement will be northwest through the Gulf of Mexico and that means the entire Gulf coast from Texas to Florida is a target for landfall. The timing of these two steering influences needs to be watched very carefully over the next few days.

Since the Gulf waters are very warm, this means Ike could swell into a category 3 or stronger hurricane. Its the strongest threat yet to the Houston area this summer. Of course, we haven't seen a category 3 storm since Alicia twenty-five years ago. Let's hope we're spared again this time.

7 Comments

Jo said:

Whenever we have hurricanes and they are headed towards the Gulf, why is is that they never seem to go south, towards So. America?

September 8, 2008 1:49 PM

Stephanie said:

Looking at the satellite imagery of the Gulf, it looks like there is huge storm system in the westernmost portion of the gulf, what if any
effect will this have on Ike?

Can a reasonably accurate prediction of Ikes path be made until he moves off of and away from Cuba?

September 8, 2008 4:46 PM

Debbie said:

I live in the Dayton Texas area. If Hurricane Ike comes in at Galveston as a Catagory 2 or 3 hurricane, what would be your estimation of wind speed by the time it reaches Dayton?

Thank you for the information

Debbie

September 8, 2008 6:56 PM

Katie said:

How high should the wind speeds get before I worry about boarding up my windows. We live in the Heights and was wondering if I should begin to boarding my windows.

September 10, 2008 7:08 PM

polly davis said:

can u send me evacuation ifo if i need to evacuate i live in tomball txas thank u my cell number is 713 557 9522 polly davis

September 11, 2008 4:49 PM

faye said:

How strong will the winds be in the 77004 area? This is over by TSU.

September 12, 2008 7:18 AM

Betty said:

We are trying to locate friends from Galveston whose address is 3428 Sealy St. Can you tell us something of that neighborhood's damage and residents?

September 28, 2008 9:23 PM

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