So it looks like the forecasts and the meteorologists were absolutely correct. Ike was a monster (much more damage than Gustav) and the storm surge hit Galveston at TWENTY FEET. That’s a higher storm surge than Katrina, people!

Here’s the 10am update for the track - now the massive storm (Category 1 as of 10:00am CST) is heading directly north and now DFW is in the tropical storm wind warning zone. Yes, DFW will be getting up to 50 mph gusts and 40 mph SUSTAINED winds in the next few hours. Hello no electricity! Ugh!

Previous Updates, Click Here.

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

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 most of you know, I just got back from a wonderful family vacation in Destin, FL. Destin is one of the most beautiful beach towns I’ve ever been to. I loved it and James and I had such a great time with my family. If you haven’t seen the Moxie Mo Show (episodes 8 and episode 9), please check them out as they show why Destin is called the Emerald Isle.

I wrote an article on Culture Feast before I left on vacation explaining why I was so stressed and why I was in such need of a vacation. My fear, initially, was my vacation would just cause more stress to my already stressed out life. I just started a new job with Fossil as a Sr. Recruiter and prior to starting, life was a bit complicated and super anxious due to uncertainty with where my career path would take me. I started a wonderful, new job and then knew that I would be leaving for Destin which caused my stress to go even higher because I had a lot to do, professionally and personally.

I’m happy to report that I feel refreshed, happy, relaxed and fulfilled (and have a nice lil’ tan going) and I must give all the props to Destin. It’s truly a GREAT place to vacation (family, children or even just yourself) and if you have any questions about the locale, please feel free to email me.

I appreciate all of your comments and emails and tweets and I appreciate you continuing to come back and support my blog as well as my new venture with the Moxie Mo Show. We have over 1,000 people who have downloaded the podcast in iTunes and I couldn’t be happier! I realize these numbers don’t compare to Geekbrief, PopSiren or even PhillyD, but they all had to start somewhere, right? So, if you like the show, do me just ONE FAVOR and tell a friend to subscribe to the Moxie Mo Show!

It’s a fun-filled show about hot topics going around the blogosphere and the world and I’m not afraid to talk about them! Why Steve Jobs’ health has become a hysterical video, Apple releases a brand new iPhone update, China is in some HOT WATER over their sneakiness to the media and bloggers and is there really a government coverup going on over Alien feces? Find out here on the Moxie Mo Show Episode 12!

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Moxie Mo Show - Episode 12 - HOT TOPICS! from Jeff McCord on Vimeo.

Hello my awesome viewers! Well, I finally finished a week at my first job and I’m happy to say I made it through and I love it. This week was incredibly crazy swamped for me. Between learning as much as possible at my job and the company I now work for and producing 4 episodes of the Moxie Mo Show, it’s been a long week.

I wanted to thank all of you who’ve supported me in this new venture. It means the world to me to see I actually have more than 20 viewers on my podcast! Thanks for all the tips and tricks you guys have given me as well. Please spread the word about the show so I can continue to be motivated, by you, to produce more!

With that said, I will still be blogging about all things moxie as well. I have a few posts I want to write this weekend so I hope you guys look forward to those. In the meantime, it’s still all about the iPhone everywhere I turn and I’m still proud I haven’t bought the 3G. Of course, even if I wanted to, according to iJustine, I couldn’t buy one if I wanted… they’re literally all out!