[Siobhan]

In terms of economic damage and lives lost, Katrina may turn out to be one of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history.

But the storm actually turned out to be much less powerful than predicted. Meteorologists say a puff of dry air coming out of the Midwest weakened Katrina just before it reached land, transforming a Category 5 monster into a less-threatening Category 3 storm.

The last-minute gust also pushed Katrina slightly to the east of its Big Easy-bound trajectory, sparing New Orleans a direct hit _ though not horrendous harm.

"It was kind of an amazing sequence of events," said Peter Black, a meteorologist at the Hurricane Research Division of the federal government's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.

I see Notre Dame de Prompte Secour all over it.

[jcharmony]

I see Notre Dame de Prompte Secour all over it.

I would have to ditto that

If you review the storm track, the hurricane was at a CAT5 heading due north to New Orleans. The storm had sustained winds of 175 MPH with 200+mph gusts. The pressure also 'explosively dropped' from mid 900's to near 900

The eye was formed, the water was clear, there was nothing else between it & New Orleans. It was supposed to be set on a straight path (there is a meterology term I can't think of now).

But right at landfall, it weakened CAT3, & made a right bypass around the city. It then resumed it's northward path.