Gustav strengthened to a Category 5 Hurricane(Current sustained winds 150mph)

Gustav could become Category 5 storm near Cuba

www.alertnet.org

MIAMI, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Hurricane Gustav could strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm before or shortly after it crosses Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Saturday. (Reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Chris Wilson)

(visit the link for the full news article)





[edit on 30/8/08 by MikeboydUS]

Cuba has begun evacuations of Havana.

Havana begins evacuations as Hurricane Gustav looms
www.alertnet.org...

I also would like to point out another powerful tropical storm, Hanna is right behind Gustav and expected to become a Hurricane. The similarities to the Katrina and Rita one-two punch are disturbing.

www.alertnet.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Looks like it has:

Breaking:

U.S. Emergency Management Agency says Hurricane Gustav strengthens into a category five storm.

- Sky TV

This is from the local news.

Gustav strengthens to a Category 5

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The FEMA chief now says Gustav has strengthened to a Category 5 storm. Category 5 is the strongest storm rating.
The National Hurricane Center on Saturday called Gustav an
"extremely dangerous" storm. The increase in the storm's
intensity comes as people line up for buses to take them out of New Orleans. Traffic is also heavier on main highways out of the city as residents head north.
New Orleans has yet to call for a mandatory evacuation, but
began ushering out the sick, elderly and those without their own transportation.

www.ktbs.com...

My thoughts and prayers are on the affected people right now.

This went to a 5 fast today, only a few hours ago all channels claimed it as Cat 3. Then four and right after now 5.


Your Canadian Friend,

Wow. Simply unreal.

If this thing makes a Category 5 landfall, I am extremely sorry for whoever experiences its landfall.

Please everyone in its path stay safe and get yourselves out of harms way if possible. This is no longer even a possible threat, this is a catastrophic threat.

Originally posted by jamie83
Let's start the clock now. It's 3:33 EST. How many minutes before somebody posts that Gustav is the result of global warming?

How many more minutes before Bush is blamed for Gustav?

Actually if I recall correctly I remember hearing back in the 2004 hurricane season (my area was devastated pretty badly), that there is a sort of hurricane cycle based on el nino/la nina and that we were shifting into the bad part of it. The guy went on to say that we could expect frequent hurricane activity in the atlantic until around 2014.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are many such storms in the near future.

Edit to add link, ENSO is what I was thinking of: en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 30-8-2008 by drwizardphd]

Not to discredit anyone here, but the NHC ( National Hurricane Center ) only lists the Hurricane as a category 4.

000 WTNT32 KNHC 301805 TCPAT2 BULLETIN HURRICANE GUSTAV SPECIAL ADVISORY NUMBER 24 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL072008 200 PM EDT SAT AUG 30 2008 ...

GUSTAV BECOMES AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE... ...WESTERN EYEWALL DIRECTLY IMPACTING THE ISLE OF YOUTH...

Isn't the name Gustav...a slavic or northern european version of the Roman name Augustus?


for those who see symbolism in things...
might the coming 'storm' (Gustav) be symbolic of a near future attack on the USA homeland by a northern european/asian adversary
followed by another [serious whirlwind along the coast] 'Hanna'

reply to post by mtmouse32


This is probably due to some kind of miscommunication between the NHC, FEMA and the US Air Force. The Air Force is actually the ones who get the data, from there it is passed on to other agencies and authorities. So if the AF is reporting 155mph winds to FEMA, then FEMA is going to say Gustav is a Cat 5.

FEMA officials said Bill Read, the director of the National Hurricane Center, interrupted an afternoon teleconference involving the agency, Gulf Coast states and the National Weather Service to say he is going to issue a special advisory statement raising Gustav to Category 5. That means winds greater than 155 mph and a storm surge greater than 18 feet above normal.

www.ktbs.com...

So the NHC made the call, they havnt updated their website yet.


[edit on 30/8/08 by MikeboydUS]

True. I re-read the OP post, and it says "could form into..." ... NOAA, NHC, Yahoo and a few other news agencies just say the hurricane is a Cat. 4. *shrugs*

Maybe I need to find faster updating news agencies. ( and government agencies )

Ah. Just caught your edit as I posted this. Thanks for the news link. I stand corrected. And pray for the safety of everyone in the path of that monster.





[edit on 30-8-2008 by mtmouse32]

reply to post by mtmouse32


The NHC website should be updated by 1700 hours/5pm eastern time- 1600 hours/4pm central time.

According to the weather channel, the hurricane may lose strength over cooler waters before it makes landfall again. I believe they have until tuesday to evacuate if it still hits Louisana. Do these slow down as they get larger?

[edit on 30-8-2008 by aleon1018]

reply to post by aleon1018


No, but it does depend on water temp and other factors. It may slow down, but I doubt it will weaken. Even hitting some cooler water, once it reaches the warm waters of the gulf, it will only strengthen back up before slamming the US.

If it slows in speed, that could only create an even deadlier storm than it is becoming now.

Gustav is NOT at category 5 yet

Gus is still a cat 4 with 145mph sustained winds. A FEMA official "misspoke" and called him category 5, and news agencies are running with that. Cat 5 won't happen until his sustained winds are at 156mph or higher. Bad news agencies for not researching the most basic hurricane info!!

He will almost certainly reach cat 5 strength today or early tomorrow, but he's not there yet.

reply to post by anachryon


The Director of the NHC said it was a Cat 5 and a special advisory should be given by the NHC within the hour. Its not my fault that some news agencies are slower than the local news in Louisiana.

[edit on 30/8/08 by MikeboydUS]

Yeah, I was just watching Sky News and the Mayor of New Orleans said that Gustav will be a category five — at least.

Gustav is not a CAT 5 yet, change the title!