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From Accuweather.com 11:35 PM EDT: CATEGORY 5 POSSIBLE!!

" We feel more confident that Katrina is beginning to make the Great Arc the north that will cause the powerful hurricane to take aim on the north-central Gulf coast. After reviewing water vapor loops over the Gulf of Mexico, we continue to see evidence that an upper ridge of high pressure to the north of Katrina is weakening and that this trend will continue.

Katrina remains a Category 3 hurricane but it is continuing to strengthen as it's central pressure falls. Hurricane hunter aircraft report that the eye is closed but still somewhat ragged. The hurricane should track across a deep and warm layer of water over the central Gulf; and with little to no upper-level wind shear across the entire Gulf, intensification will occur. Katrina should become a Category 4 hurricane Sunday and could even reach Category 5 intensity before Monday morning.

The track of and the second landfall for Katrina depends on a continued weakening of an upper ridge of high pressure over the Southeast, a digging upper level trough of low pressure over the Midwest, and a building ridge of high pressure east of Florida. we feel that these 3 factors will combine to steer Katrina on a more west-northwest track Saturday night followed by a northwest track Sunday and then a north track Sunday night and Monday. The most recent computer models show a consensus track over southeast Louisiana. Our latest thinking is that Katrina will make landfall near noon Monday over extreme southeastern Louisiana. Conditions will begin to deteriorate later Sunday, well in advance of the storm, with tropical-storm-force winds reaching the coast Sunday afternoon and hurricane-force winds reaching the coast Monday morning. The winds will be strong enough to down not only trees and power lines but also bring down structures and make missiles out of unsecured objects. As the storm nears the coast Monday, a devastating storm surge will be pushed into the lower Mississippi Delta as the powerful southeasterly winds pile water into the area. The storm will also bring flooding rains well inland, and the risk for tornadoes north and east of the path of the center. "