[trebb]

Fickle is right. With the pressures it is showing, if it gets the eye completely closed off and expels the dry air we could see it go from 75 MPH to CAT II quite quickly. Hopefully that won’t happen, but right now we pressure readouts that support a 95-100 MPH storm, and there are clear indications he is getting his act together. With the slow down in speed this could go from bad to very very bad quite quickly for LA/MISS/ALA. At least there is no indication in any of the models of the worst case scenario ala Kate and Juan etc from years back — stall out right along LA coast then loop around and come back in along the Ala/Fla Panhandle.

Yep - no guarantees until it is over land and disipating. The slow movement has me concerned that it might have the potential to do a "Katrina" and decide to drift east along the coast instead of heading inland - bad news for us in MS/AL if it does. Some folks were mocking the RNC for playing it safe. Aftre a few hurricanes and Katrina under my belt, I advocate playing it safe.

[alancarp]

Weather station Station PSTL1 (located as far into the Gulf as you can get while still being attached to land) reporting steady winds of 50 kts, gusts to 67 kt (77 mph).