From My Apartment in Uptown Dallas…

As you know, I am a huge weather geek and although I wish no harm on anyone, hurricanes literally mesmorize me and we have a huge hurricane coming! My city, Dallas, will even be in the storm’s angry path!

Here’s the 7pm CST update for Hurricane Ike which is now a category 3 storm (barely, just hit 111 mph).

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 from the National Hurricane Center on Hurricane Gustav which is forecasted to make landfall tomorrow morning/afternoon (although some coastal areas will have horrible weather starting tonight).

BULLETIN
HURRICANE GUSTAV ADVISORY NUMBER 29
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008
400 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 2008

…GUSTAV MOVING QUICKLY NORTHWESTWARD OVER THE CENTRAL GULF OF
MEXICO…HURRICANE WARNING EXTENDED WESTWARD…

AT 4 PM CDT…2100 UTC…THE HURRICANE WARNING IS EXTENDED WESTWARD
ALONG THE LOUISIANA AND TEXAS COASTS TO JUST EAST OF HIGH ISLAND
TEXAS. A HURRICANE WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM JUST EAST OF HIGH
ISLAND EASTWARD TO THE ALABAMA-FLORIDA BORDER…INCLUDING THE CITY
OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS
THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA
WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND
PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

AT 400 PM CDT…2100Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE GUSTAV WAS LOCATED
NEAR LATITUDE 26.4 NORTH…LONGITUDE 87.3 WEST OR ABOUT 215 MILES…
350 KM…SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

GUSTAV IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 18 MPH…30 KM/HR. THIS
GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE WITH A DECREASE IN FORWARD
SPEED DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. ON THE FORECAST TRACK…
GUSTAV SHOULD MAKE LANDFALL ON THE NORTHERN GULF COAST ON MONDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 115 MPH…185 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. GUSTAV IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON
SCALE. SOME RE-INTENSIFICATION IS POSSIBLE TONIGHT. FLUCTUATIONS
IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY THEREAFTER…BUT GUSTAV IS FORECAST TO
REMAIN A MAJOR HURRICANE UNTIL LANDFALL.

As some of you know, I’m a self-renowned weather geek and I love weather and storms. I do not love the destruction, though and unfortunately, as each minute passes by on this Sunday, Hurricane Gustav looks to be more and more menacing to the Louisiana coast.

As you can see here, the latest hurricane satellite imagery and track (as of Sunday, 2:00pm CST) is a direct hit to New Orleans and the LA coastal border as well as far east Texas.

The other weather news item besides Hurricane Gustav is the tropical storm Hannah near Bermuda. Most weather forecast models are predicting this to become a hurricane which could threaten the South East US coast. Not a good week for hurricanes my friends.

Continue to check here for the latest updates on Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hannah.