Hurricane Dean on track to reach Category 5

[maseman]

Source: MSNBC

CASTRIES, St. Lucia - Hurricane Dean was expected to strengthen into an extremely powerful Category 5 storm as it passed Jamaica and neared Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Friday.

Category 5 hurricanes are the strongest and potentially most destructive tropical storms on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity with top sustained winds in excess of 155 miles per hour.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20289472/

---

Oh boy. Gas going to $4/gallon?

[kansasblue]

1. Get your 5-Day Track Forecast Cone here.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/024525.shtml?5day#contents

National Hurricane Center website is great.

[Reciprocity]

2. Damn and I'm still shaking from when Rita passed through East Texas.

[Endangered Specie]

3. Hurricane Dean?? Were going to the Caribbean, then to Jamacia, then to Mexico then to....

YEARGH!


sorry.

[celestia671]

4. Lol!

That was pretty funny!:spray:

Not the hurricane though. I hope it weakens before hitting land. We got off easy last year, but I have a feeling we're in for it.

[qanda]

9. That's not right

But it sure is funny!

[Myrina]

11. LOL!

:applause:

[Scooter24]

5. We're keeping an eye on it,

but we'll probably just get a day or two of rain out of it (Dallas area).

Unless it stalls right over us like the last storm, then we're screwed lol.

[Hulk]

6. I'm only hoping it hits the Crawford ranch at a lvl 5.

I would love to see this monkey get some of his own medicine. Maybe his spawn devil mother would make some smart ass comment about how much better off he has it in her guest room like she did to the NO residents that hovered unnoticed at the stadium for days. Pigs...the whole lot!

[Adsos Letter]

7. And that the POTUS...

...would take the final plunge and stand outside amidst the crashing storm like some Roman Emperor gone mad, chain-saw in hand, flailing at the winds and daring the storm to "bring it on"...and then a toilet seat, ripped loose from some porta-potty and flying through the air, would konk him on the noggin'...

:D

[Adsos Letter]

8. ......

:kick:

[Baclava]

10. This little sucker is wound tight

[maseman]

12. Look at that defined eyewall

It is a very well formed storm. I don't know how it would de-stabilize unless the water gets much cooler.

How many oil rigs will be wiped out?

[Baclava]

13. Wait & Watch...that is the mantra

Steering currents are keeping the path steady so far.
Anything in the middle to upper Texas coast area would be bad for the oil platforms.
Galveston & Houston the worst.

All the models are still projecting it far to the south of those areas.
The windfield of Dean's hurricane force winds is pretty compact too....something like 60 miles.
It would have to be a direct hit for the full effect.

Unless it blows up when it hits warmer waters...you never know.

[maseman]

14. The Gulf makes it much more unpredictable

I agree it would be better to go south. Anyway you look at it is going to be bad.

[youngdem]

15. On its current path, not a lot

Southern Texas offshore isn't a huge exploration zone. IF it slides up to SSE of Port Lavaca to Houston and East all the way to the Mississippi/Alabama line, there is most of the Gulf's production platforms, refineries in coastal zones, storage tanks, Offshore Oil Platforms for unloading supertankers from Venezuela and such.

But, on its current path, not a lot of production or refining is at risk. And the state is relatively lightly populated and lightly developed. In fact, if a storm is to enter the gulf and go anywhere, this is about the best we could hope for, in terms of impact on the rest of the country. (Sorry Brownsville)

http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp