Still west

Hurricane Ike is set to visit Cuba as a cat 4 storm (135 MPH, 948 mb) during the next two days. You can easily imagine the damage that will occur along a large majority of the island. Evacuations in the Keys are continuing today.

Beyond that, computer models continue to shift toward the west. It now seems as if Texas is just as likely (if not more so) for landfall than Florida is, which is a rather remarkable change of events from the expected Miami landfall 24-36 hours ago.

Some restrengthening is expected once Ike emerges from Cuba, but there's a chance Ike won't strengthen rapidly due to dry air and unfavorable upper-level winds in the Gulf of Mexico in about 5 days. But that's 5 days away---lots can change.

Today there doesn't appear to be a threat to our area from Ike. However, hurricanes can continue to surprise us, and I'll feel better when Ike has reached a position north of us (about 28.50 degrees north). Hotel reservations will be canceled later this morning.

The last hurricane center advisory on Hanna, now located near Boston, was issued this morning. Hanna dropped a swath of 2-6 inches of rain over most of the mid-Atlantic, northeast, and New England yesterday. Put another way, one or two months worth of rain for that part of the country fell in about 6 hours.