subscribe to our feed.
Hurricane Gustav has turned into a giant. It is about 80% the size of Katrina (which was gigantic). It currently has sustained wind speeds of 150mph, and we expect that to increase. When Gustav came of Haiti, it was a Tropical Storm. It then jogged south and walked the length of Jamaica. That hindered growth. But, once Gustav emerged on the Western edge of Jamaica, he unveiled his true nature - brute strength. Hovering above the super warm, deep waters under Cuba, Gustav grew amazingly rapid.
Between 2PM on 8/29 and 2PM on 8/30, Gustav went from 70mph winds and 984mb of pressure to 145mph winds and 945mb of pressure. That is an incredible intensification period. In one day, Gustav gained 75mph on his winds and dropped a staggering 39mb of pressure. As I write this, Gustav is pounding Western Cuba with 150mph maximum winds and185 gusts. I seriously can’t imagine that kind of ravaging. And even though that is bad, there are large population centers in its future path. The worst possible case has New Orleans on high alert. That’s because Gustav could be worse than Katrina wa.
Katrina actually moved into a more “favorable” scenario before landfall. Katrina lost a lot of power right before landfall. She got some dry air entrained into her and she moved east. That kept the storm down to 10-12 feet. Now that is still awful, but it could have been more like 25 feet. Places east of New Orleans experienced that high of storm surge. They also experienced the worst winds. But Gustav’s path is still projected way too close to the western edge of New Orleans. A landfall just to the west would have catastrophic effects for New Orleans. Projections are that Gustav will be a strong category 3 or category 4 hurricane on landfall. He will ratchet up to category 5 in the next day. Let’s hope that he gets fickle and moves some place that will result in the least amount of property damage and loss of life.
Gustav is just about to move off the northern edge of Cuba, where it will interact with some unusually warm oceanic water. That will give it the juice it needs to gain category 5 status. From there, Gustav will come into contact with higher wind shear and cooler water content. A faster track to the coast, however, will not give Gustav a lot of time to diminish in power. Gulf coast residents should prepare for the worst.
Photo Source: Weather Underground
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
Recent Comments