Fear, fire, foes, awake! Here comes Gustav
Move over, presidential politics. Tropical weather is about to re-assert itself at the top of the news.
Hurricane Gustav has formed in the Caribbean Sea, and he's already approaching Category 2 status. The hype machine is in full gear with this storm, sweeping up even the anti-alarmists like Alan Sullivan. It's easy to see why: Gustav appears to be "the real deal." It's likely to become a major hurricane, maybe even a Category 4 or 5 monster, over the next few days -- and the computer models show an ominous track toward the central Gulf Coast:
Such a track would take Gustav over the warmest waters in the entire ocean, which is why there's so much concern about the potential for massive intensification. As I wrote over at Weather Nerd, the NHC says "MOST INDICATIONS ARE THAT GUSTAV WILL BE AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE IN THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA IN A FEW DAYS."
Gustav is likely to be a major hurricane in the western Caribbean, with its sights set on the Gulf of Mexico, by week's end. Considerations of life & limb aside, this could seriously steal some thunder from Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's veep selection. And a possibly devastating U.S. landfall would make the timing of the GOP convention next week terribly awkward. Indeed, if McCain is considering picking Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal or Florida Governor Charlie Crist as his veep, it's quite possible the newly minted runningmate would almost immediately have to leave the campaign trail, skip the convention, head home, and deal with an approaching hurricane.
Full coverage at Weather Nerd, which now appears likely to be my primary blogging outlet for the next week or so, notwithstanding the ongoing political conventions. Frankly, compared to those scripted quasi-events -- fun as they are for political junkies like me -- Gustav is the much bigger deal.
[Original post at 8:01 AM; bumped to top. -ed.]
Hurricane Gustav has formed in the Caribbean Sea, and he's already approaching Category 2 status. The hype machine is in full gear with this storm, sweeping up even the anti-alarmists like Alan Sullivan. It's easy to see why: Gustav appears to be "the real deal." It's likely to become a major hurricane, maybe even a Category 4 or 5 monster, over the next few days -- and the computer models show an ominous track toward the central Gulf Coast:
Such a track would take Gustav over the warmest waters in the entire ocean, which is why there's so much concern about the potential for massive intensification. As I wrote over at Weather Nerd, the NHC says "MOST INDICATIONS ARE THAT GUSTAV WILL BE AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE IN THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA IN A FEW DAYS."
Gustav is likely to be a major hurricane in the western Caribbean, with its sights set on the Gulf of Mexico, by week's end. Considerations of life & limb aside, this could seriously steal some thunder from Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's veep selection. And a possibly devastating U.S. landfall would make the timing of the GOP convention next week terribly awkward. Indeed, if McCain is considering picking Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal or Florida Governor Charlie Crist as his veep, it's quite possible the newly minted runningmate would almost immediately have to leave the campaign trail, skip the convention, head home, and deal with an approaching hurricane.
Full coverage at Weather Nerd, which now appears likely to be my primary blogging outlet for the next week or so, notwithstanding the ongoing political conventions. Frankly, compared to those scripted quasi-events -- fun as they are for political junkies like me -- Gustav is the much bigger deal.
[Original post at 8:01 AM; bumped to top. -ed.]
posted by Brendan Loy at
8/26/2008 12:21:00 PM
