As of 8:54am CST, Hurricane Gustav was inching closer and closer to Louisiana and has now been downgraded to a Category 2 with maximum SUSTAINED winds of 110 miles per hour. As of now, the hurricane’s eye is 75 miles from New Orleans but is making landfall as I type this. The eye is expected to hit Port Fourchon any second now, which has typically the strongest winds of the hurricane (near the eye) before and after the eye passes.

So what about New Orleans? Did they get spared? Well, they are not getting a direct hit, but keep in mind that with Katrina, New Orleans didn’t have a direct hit and Katrina was a category 3 hurricane when it made landfall. Also, the levees broke a full 24 hours after the hurricane hit. Hopefully, everything is fine.

I am pleased to write that the hurricane is not as big of a monster as once feared (even as of last night) so thank you Lord for decreasing this hurricane!!! The winds have still not hit New Orleans to its fullest but they should in the next hour or two.

As of 9:06am, according to The Weather Channel, there are 14 tornado warnings in Louisiana and Mississippi. FOURTEEN potential tornadoes spun off by Hurricane Gustav. It’s just beginning!!!

Previous Updates/Warnings/Satellite Pics here.

Here’s the latest and greatest updates from the National Hurricane Center as well as the National Weather Service in New Orleans. New Orleans has already had a few “squalls” (AKA bands of rain) hit the downtown area with 44mph wind gusts and it hasn’t even officially hit New Orleans yet.

As of 10:00pm CST, the forecasted track is for New Orleans to be in the “right quadrant” of the hurricane, which is NOT where you want to be (the storm surge and winds are more destructive to the east of the hurricane’s eye).

As of 10:05pm CST, the storm is 400 miles wide (yes, 400 miles!), winds are up to 115mph (Category 3 storm) and is expected to slam into the US by Monday morning (9am to 12:00pm). The remains of the hurricane are expected to literally flood East Texas to Dallas, TX.

The forecasted track of Gustav remains the same as earlier, however it’s important to know that a hurricane has a mind of its own and can and will change direction often and without much notice.

More to come tomorrow morning… it’s been a long, long day and I’m exhausted. Hopefully, the three of you who read this will gain some education/awareness from it. GOOD NIGHT!

Previous Updates/Radar/Graphics of Gustav