Thanks for the ping. Has it been a year already??? :-)
Incredibly, yes. One year ago today, on a Hurricane Katrina thread:
Hurricane Katrina Discussion Number 9
Statement as of 5:00 PM EDT on August 25, 2005
Katrina is now a hurricane based on NOAA recon...There is still a short window of opportunity for Katrina to strengthen to around 70 kt before landfall occurs. After landfall ...Steady weakening is expected until the hurricane emerges off the southwest Florida coast in about 30 hours. Once Katrina moves over the warm Gulf of Mexico where the vertical shear is expected to be low...restrengthening into a hurricane seems likely. It should be emphasized that Katrina is not forecast to weaken prior to landfall ...Which could be implied by the official intensity forecast. In contrast...Katrina is expected to strengthen to 90 kt before landfall occurs in the Florida Panhandle. This is consistent with the SHIPS intensity model and the trend in the GFDL model... although the latter model makes Katrina a 118-kt category 4 storm.
816 PM EDT THU AUG 25 2005
...Hurricane Force Winds Continue Across Miami-Dade And Broward Counties...
...Hurricane Katrina made landfall just south of Ft. Lauderdale, FL
around 7pm this evening with sustained winds to 80mph and gusts
between 90-95mph.