Ahhhh haaaa! Gustav is a Major Storm!

Good Saturday morning--2 interesting developments this am with almost all of the models showing the storm turning either before a landfall or after. None of the scenarios show a direct hit on Houston. The turning has to do with forecast high pressure strengthening from the north as the storm moves northward. The storm's path will be affected according to the amount of strengthening of the high pressure. If the high pressure doesn't strengthen, then Gustav will be influenced more by high pressure to the east. The circulation around high pressure is clockwise. So if you are south of that, then you are being influenced by east to westward currents.

Gustav also strengthened rapidly overnight...it is now a major hurricane. Anything stronger than 111 mph sustained winds is a major hurricane.

If the storm does make landfall over southwest Louisiana and then turns, what will be the weather impact in Houston? It could be minimal except for some rain and squalls of gusty winds...possibly some tornadoes.

But...since some of the model runs show a turn before hitting...we should anticipate the possibility of a turn right at landfall with the storm potentially scraping along the coast...a more devastating scenario for people in the coastal area affected.

What to do this weekend...get ready for the worst. Again...supplies on hand and be thinking about what you want to do if the storm looks like it will hit your area. Again, there is a lot of error and know that intensification forecasting has very little skill at this point. See my previous blog for more tips on getting ready for a storm.

Almost 3 months to the end of hurricane season and less than 4 months until Christmas. What is a better gift than giving a child the benefits of early language learning. Buy my award winning Spanish teaching DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, at www.frankandpaco.com, Best Buy, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

More to come!
Weather Wonder Woman