Is that some kind of nuevo Judeo-Christian tenet? You have to have a New Orleans where the Mississippi meets the Gulf. It wouldn't be there if you didn't pretty much have to have it. It ties the US food basket to the world.
Looks like its losing steam instead of gaining like they thought. Its now 115 mph - barely a 3. I thought this would hammer NO but now it appears to spare its wrath as I think this will be a low 2/ high 1 by the time it hits land. But it wasn't the winds that killed NO last time, it was the water and the levies that broke. The question is - will the levies hold this time.
don't be fooled this thing still has ~18 hrs left in the gulf, and it has been showing signs of strengthening lately. expect the worst, hope for the best.
hopefully school is canceled..? idk if they would cancel school for this but im really hoping they do
awesome. unless this thing does the loop-back to the southwest that some of the models have been forecasting, we'll get very little out of this storm here in houston.
Look at the angle that the storm is going make landfall at. Any shift to the west and the landfall point will shift a huge amount. Watch this one closely till its dead.
Gustav did weaken a bit. Although the possibility of strengthening is still there. This is according to the weather channel
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1054&tstamp=200808 Gustav's storm surge may breach the New Orleans levees Gustav is a very large storm. Like Katrina, Gustav will probably carry a larger storm surge to the coast than its wind speeds might suggest. Currently, Gustav's diameter of tropical storm force winds is 340 miles. By landfall, this number is forecast to increase to 360 miles, which would make Gustav 80% as large as Katrina was at landfall. NHC's current storm surge forecast calls for a storm surge of 12-16 feet to the right of where the center of Gustav comes ashore. The latest computer generated storm surge map shows that highest surge will be along the levee system along the east side of New Orleans. Storm surge levels of this magnitude are characteristic of a Category 3 to 4 hurricane. The levee system of New Orleans is designed to withstand a storm surge characteristic of a Category 3 storm. If the NHC storm surge forecast verifies, there is a significant threat of multiple levee failures in the New Orleans levee system resulting in flooding of portions of the city. However, the latest 12Z (8 am EDT) model runs have shifted their landfall points a bit further west, reducing the odds of a Category 4 storm surge in New Orleans. My best guess is that New Orleans will suffer a Category 2 or 3-level storm surge. The levees will hold with that level of storm surge, if they perform as designed.
