Fwoggie

Hopefully he'll get cut some slack. He did what he had to do. Better to resign over crying wolf, than to resign over dead bodies. I'd have done the same. He can hold his head up high. NHC forecast it to go back up to a cat 4, low cat 5 and he had to run with the info at the time. It was always about the storm surge rather than the winds. They were forecasting 22 feet at one point (in contrast, Katrina was only 12 foot). Given those sorts of numbers, storm of the century would be a fair description. But don't forget, thousands of people were in trailers, even with a cat 2 you wouldn't want to be in one from a wind point of view alone, let alone floating away in it. I hope they chill out on him. They probably will, Katrina is still too fresh in the memory of the editors.

Effectively, Gustav is forecast to produce the same level. You get where this could be going. The reduction in storm surge that NHC is currently banging on about is great, much more important for NO than the wind levels. Smashed windows and replacing wooden houses is easier if you don't have to pump out the city first.

Mobile, MS, got 11.5 feet (give or take a few irrelevant cm).

Given the situation, the latest discussion from NHC and sat images, I think it'll at worst get to a weak cat 4 and more likely stay as it is. Also, that's the third issue in a row where NHC has reduced storm surge. It was 20 ft, than 16 foot, now 12. If it drops below 10, and they're right, the levees "might" hold in many places.

Email joe.dupree@citcomm.com.

I just got name checked on citadel radio Cool... They're suggesting that about 95% of NO has left. For sure the roads look VERY quiet from houston all the way across to the MS/AL border and NO looks deserted.

131-155 is cat 4.

There's an observation station at pilots station LA - link: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=pstl1. 28.932 N 89.407 W (use google maps to locate it). It's now starting to record an increase in sea level and drop in pressure. So far 1.5 ft above MLLW for water levels, 24 knots, gusting 31 knots.

Hello. Greetings from Erdington I'm looking at different images and see the same as you. The eye looks like its organising.

Meanwhile, someone doesn't know how to get to San Antonio. They've got a mobile phone with mapping software, but the battery ran out, and they don't have a paper map (clearly they don't have a mobile phone car cigarette charger either)... Honestly, this is gripping, but as to why...

Dunno. Turn off the street button and it disappears though. Must be part of this google project to photograph every road in the world. I saw them photographing my stretch here in Birmingham, UK.

The areas they're evacuating are primarily areas that could get nailed by storm surge. Baton Rouge isn't affected by Storm Surge potential. It's problem is the high winds, but only 100mph. That's not that huge an issue.

No sir, Baton Rouge does not have a mandatory evacuation, no sir, no sir.

Didn't for me either. Access it via www.1300espn.com and click on listen live. Right now he's discussing mandatory evacuations for various parishes in and around NO. That'll take him a few min. No idea where any of these parishes are mind.

Don't worry though, you can get 9oz of cookie dough from Walmart for two dollars 95 cents! Honestly, these ads seem so in appropriate. Another weather forum's discussing the fact there are buoys reporting 35ft waves. Woah, is what I can say.

What they want Tracy is for a cat 5 to hit somewhere where there's no property or people That doesn't work in N America Does in Australia though.

I checked that. A mandatory evacuation means that if you step off your private property you're liable to arrest. Anti looting I presume. But they can't force you to go, which makes sense. No point wasting a lot of valuable govt resource in trying to argue with people for ages and them not giving in. Some people clearly like to challenge Darwin's theories of evolution. Survival of the dumbest. I mean fittest. Can you imagine the fun Chris Moyles would have with this lot??

Join in the fun at www.1300espn.com. Am tempted to email them and say hi from the UK.

"You're on the louisiana mississippi border ma'am, it wouldn't hurt to border your house up." "Really?" "Yes Ma'am, you're going to get very very high winds." "Oh..." *HEAD* *BANG* *DESK*

No Thunderstorms in Birmingham, UK. Still muggy though. Must check the rain radar, see what's coming here. Am listening to the radio that justinflavin provided for Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. Some woman has just rung up asking what the situation would be for Kalahari or something like that. DJ asked where it was, she said she didn't know. Cue bemusement from DJ. OK, why do you wanna know? Because my son has been sent to a correctional facility there. Turns out it's right the hell up near the Mississippi state line, nowhere remotely troubled. Also turns out that where SHE is, is a problem area. "You are gonna get high winds and serious rainfall ma'am. We are in the thick of things. Will it flood? I can't tell you this ma'am." "We had Hurricane Andrew and we got 5 feet of water in our back yard and it didn't reach my house." "Uh huh... We're expecting 12 inches of rain in some areas ma'am. That's a lot of rain." "12 inches or 12 feet?" "No no no no ma'am, not 12 feet of rain." This radio is amusing. The Radio conversation continues. "Ma'am, we're in Baton Rouge and we're forecast 100 mile an hour winds, and you're closer to New Orleans than we are! Don't mess around, be safe!"... "Do you have anywhere safe to go?" "Er... we're not sure if we do..."

Do they stream online? Can we all listen and laugh/wince?

On a different note. Long term weather forecasters show Ike (currently forming in E Atlantic) barrelling all the way into the Gulf of Mexico in 10 days time. That would be unhelpful to say the least.

I wonder what the wind shear is at the moment. Maybe that's having an effect. Also, isn't Gustav currently over the colder water eddy that calved off the loop current in early July? BTW, Where are you getting that bouy data, looks fantastic, a great tool...