9/11 - 9:30pm - Houston, We Have a Hurricane

Sorry about the late post today and the non post on Tuesday... crazy week at school.

Hurricane Ike threw a curve ball on landfall in the models last night. Here's what surprised me as I awoke today:



Yep, that's Houston right in the bull's eye there. Yesterday before the late evening update, it seemed as if Corpus Christi would be the target, but this northward shift has changed the logistics of just about every aspect of this storm. Current estimates put the strength at Category 3 for landfall, down from some Cat 4 estimates late yesterday. The pressure is increasing right now meaning the storm is weakening slightly, but the water gets warmer as it nears the Texas Coast. Something that caught my attention was how large in area the storm is. Take a look at the latest satellite image:



This thing takes up nearly all of the Gulf of Mexico in size! So while it may not be a record-breaking storm in strength, it definitely will be seen and felt by many as it moves into the United States.

As moist air from Ike is funneled in here over the the next few days, rain will be on the increase. Expect showers and thunderstorms to begin tonight and continue off and on tomorrow. As a warm front finally comes through early Saturday rain will also accompany it in the morning. It should taper off for the most part in the afternoon to early evening hours. The gut-busting rain could come Sunday night into early Monday as Ike's remnants blast through here. If the HPC is right, we could get upwards of 3" of rain, or even more if this system shifts east. The SPC says we could have an isolated tornado risk as what's left of Ike comes through due to possible instability and already present rotation in the storm. This is just a guess at this point according to them, so don't get too wrapped up in that yep.

After all this warm front/Ike mess is gone on Monday afternoon, we'll be left with highs in the 70's for a good part of next week. How's that for a reward after all this nasty weather?