Hurricane Gustav could become a BIG deal
We mentioned earlier that Gustav could become a category 3 hurricane before it makes landfall. Now there’s talk that it could reach category 4 or 5 status.
Accuweather Meteorologist John Kocet says:
“There is nothing in Gustav’s path that will hinder development. There is a strong probability that it will be a Category 3 storm by the time it enters the Gulf, and it has the potential to strengthen into a Category 4 or 5 storm over the Gulf.”
The great thing about Fay is that it was a relatively quiet storm (compared to a major hurricane), but it still brought us some nice rain. Gustav is likely to cause major destruction, making our water situation seem pretty petty in comparison (as it should).
Below are a few maps from Weather Underground showing the possible path of the storm. The five-day forecast shows it aiming directly for New Orleans, though the computer models are still quite varied in their predictions.
This will certainly be a storm to keep an eye on, as it could have a major impact on a lot of lives.
Tags: fay, gustav, hurricane, Lanier, tropical storm
August 27th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
This actually raises an interesting philosophical question. Of course we have no say as to what happens with Gustav - but hypothetically if we did…
Alabama and Florida seem perfectly willing to let Georgians absorb billions of dollars of economic impact for what seems like comparatively minor benefits to them.
Would we Georgains be morally bigger and turn Gustav away if it were going to damage those two states and benefit Georgia? I guess we all know what Florida and Alabama would do don’t we?? Each state for itself seems to be their philosophy.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I think Georgia shares equally in the “each state for itself” attitude. Every sacrifice GA has made has been kicking and screaming. All three states share blame for current woes and sadly no state has a leader willing to do more than whine and point fingers. The leadership void is disheartening.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I would like to hear Chicken Little’s opinion on this.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Gustav might be trouble. I’m more interested in Tropical Depression #8.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/280847.shtml
August 28th, 2008 at 8:20 am
More interested in TD #8? There’s still a lot of unknowns with that one (let’s go ahead and call her “Hanna”), but Gustav seems to be pretty much a sure thing to strengthen and hit land somewhere along the gulf coast.
What do you think Hanna will do?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:19 am
chicken fan Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I would like to hear Chicken Little’s opinion on this.
–
what’s that smell?
August 28th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Actually, they ARE calling her Hanna since my last post.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at3.shtml?5day#contents
I’m not interested in her for any solid reasons really, no more so than anyone is interested in Gustav, but…
She’s a westward moving storm; the winds that are not there to cut off Gustav’s top, also aren’t there to push her north. If she hits the east coast, she will push in to the west. If she hits anywhere within a couple hundred miles of Georgia on either side, you’re likely to get rain from her.
Gustav by comparison, will move into the Gulf, and then may move anywhere - west to Texas, straight up to New Orleans (my bet just because of the irony - the USACE just said the levees are no where near finished, and my friends there just finished rebuilding their home), or maybe pull east and hit Georgia and Florida. If it doesn’t pull east, you won’t get a piece of this storm.
It just seems early on that the odds are more in favor of Hanna, if you want the next big rainmaker.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:55 am
The coast of any state is a buffer zone for storms. If you live there be ready to fish your personal items out of the ditch. Florida is a sand bar with no real trees for a reason. I’m sick of hearing how great Florida is to live in at the holidays. Gee, lets live 20′ below sea level in New Orleans and complain we got flooded. We get our water from storms that come on shore, let it come!
August 30th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I have a question will Gustav hit Atlanta Georgia?and why do people have to use so much water just cut down on water usage please it will help us and the environment.please help us stay in usage of water .
thanks,
(the girl who loves to save the environmental and picks up cigarettes)
grace
August 30th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Grace,
Gustav certainly won’t “hit” Atlanta, at least in terms of destruction — we’re simply too far inland. In terms of generating decent rainfall, like Fay did, it seems unlikely. Possible, I suppose, but probably won’t happen.
Blindly cutting down on water usage won’t necessarily help much. For example, putting a bucket in your shower won’t help much, and may even hurt the situation. Read through the older posts on this site for some info about the real causes of the situation and what you can do to help.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Gustav is currently catagory 4, and FEMA suggests it will become Catagory 5 tonight or early Sunday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/30/america/NA-US-Bush-Gustav.php
August 30th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
thank you mickey I will read through the other comments thank you so much for the info about hurricane Gustav and i will make sure to understand about water usage and how can you be so smart and how old are you? my friend wants to know what would happen if Gustav did hit us like how much damage and I am 11 years old so I am not as intelligent as you. and why would the water saving thing hurt or make the situation worst?
August 30th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Grace,
If Gustov hit directly south of us and came straight to Atlanta, the damage would still be fairly minimal compared to what they’d experience on the coast. We’re far enough inland that no hurricane will ever give us catastrophic damage.
The water saving was in reference to the primary focus of this site — the water shortage — not the hurricanes.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:04 am
mickey you still haven’t answered my question how old are you? And how can you be so smart? Oh one more thing if you still go to school what school do you go to?
August 31st, 2008 at 10:04 am
Grace,
I’m 32, and not especially “smart” about weather-related items. I simply started this site to try to keep all of the drought-related information in one place, and it took off from there.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
thank you mickey for telling me you are 32 and i didn’t know you started the site that is cool!