Gustav, Hanna, and Ike

The 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season is about as active as it gets in my opinion. We have Gustav over land with still hurricane force wind gusts, but now it has weakened to a Tropical Storm. lashing areas of Louisiana. New Orleans appeared to have gotten through this better than Katrina but by no means am I saying it was a dud. Gustav made landfall as a strong category 2 hurricane with winds at 110 mph.

Now onto the next tropical cyclone to possibly effect the U.S. Earlier this morning, Tropical Storm Hanna was not very organized and was not expected to become a hurricane until Wednesday. She got much better organized despite being in an environment not conducive for strengthening. Hurricane Hunters flew in and found a much stronger Hanna and she was designated a hurricane at 1:30 pm. Hanna has since stalled in the Bahamas and is expected to meander for the next day or so as the steering environment is weak. As of 11pm, Hanna has 80 mph winds and a minimum central pressure of 978mb. One of the issues Hanna has been facing is northerly shear which tends to blow off most of the clouds and convection to the south and prevents the storm from really venting itself the way a strong hurricane can. The National Hurricane Center says this shear should relax as an upper level anticyclone will move overhead. This should help to help outflow in all quadrants which acts as exhaust. I am not going to get into specifics with the exact track right now because no discernible movement is being made by Hanna. I will just say this.. Anyone from Flordia to the North Carolina coast could see this landfall there. Because of the way the east coast is shaped, any 20-50 mile deviation could affect the landfall point. Below is the New 11pm 5-day track and intensity from The National Hurricane Center shown on Wunderground color maps.



More on Hanna tomorrow evening.

Quickly onto Tropical Storm Ike which was designated this afternoon at 5pm. Not much to say here except this is another tropical cyclone that needs to be watched closely. Here is the new 11pm 5-day track again from the National Hurricane Center on Wunderground maps.




And for your viewing enjoyment, you can see Tropical Storm Gustav over the Gulf States, Hurricane Hanna over the Bahamas and Tropical Storm Ike over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.