Hurricane Ike laying claim on Gulf of Mexico

It is still there!

Hurricane Ike didn't disappear last night.

In fact, it start spinning up the Gulf of Mexico and claiming it as its own.

I start the day out with a new graphic -- looks familiar doesn't it? The difference is there is no track down the center. I'm wondering if this is not a more accurate representation of what we know. Hurricanes rarely follow the line down the middle, but they do often stay within the cone of uncertainty. This gives a better picture to me of who ought to be taking serious preparations at this time.

Just a thought.

Click on the graphic above from the National Hurricane Center to get all the coordinates and such. A couple of things caught my attention:

• the storm turned to a NW heading over night -- which if it holds up will take it more into the center of the Gulf
• the storm has slowed down to 8 mph. Seems to me, the faster it moves, that harder it is for it to take sharp turns.
• Winds are picking up -- 85 mph now.

You want to see how big this thing is getting, view this NOAA hi-res shot.

You can still see the storm pretty good on the Casablanca, Cuba radar, which to me is amazing considering the hit the upper end of Cuba took and continues to take.

--steve buser