Wednesday 10 AM Advisory on Ike

As of late this morning, Ike is still a category one hurricane but the winds are a little stronger now, up to 90 mph, and the pressure is about 5 mb lower. When you look at the satellite imagery, you can see how large Ike is. In fact, tropical storm forces winds extend out over 200 miles from the center! The motion has been wobbly during the overnight period but a motion to the west-northwest is expected to continue for the next 24-36 hours. After that, a more westward motion will send it closer to the Texas coast. The overall track has not changed much, with landfall near Corpus Christi very early Saturday. The latest model runs are slowly coming in and by 1 PM, we will see if there are anymore major shifts.

I want to leave you with one thought. Typically, hurricanes make landfall to the right of where the official forecast is. That happened with Rita, Katrina, and most recently Gustav. I am not saying that will happen but something to think about.