Hurrican Ike

[The Judge]

The projected path of Hurricane Ike is still relatively uncertain but as a precaution, we are colsing our office this Friday to allow our staff to prepare as they see fit. The storm currently has sustained winds of 90 mph and is projected to strengthen over the next 36 hours before making landfall as a major hurricane somewhere along the Texas coast. It appears that a cold front may push the eye of the storm to the coastal areas south of the Houston area but I am heading to Austin as I have no desire to spend the weekend without power. (Football comes first in my household.)

This one could be huge by the time it makes landfall fo please stay safe if you find yourself in harm's way.

[RanPicks]

Stay sage judge - hope they still play that game in Austin..

[smet9772]

Stay safe, Ike all ready ruined my vacation planed for Turks and Caicos when it tore up that little Island, and if it ruins football for me I will hate the name Ike forever.

[RanPicks]

lol

[Dr. Jack]

Stay safe everyone!

[be47320]

they are saying we may have 60 mph winds and tornados in austin saturday, wtf

[RanPicks]

Originally Posted by be47320

they are saying we may have 60 mph winds and tornados in austin saturday, wtf

yep - that was my concern... not that I'm there - just that the game will get played...

[revnecro1273]

Originally Posted by RanPicks

Stay sage judge - hope they still play that game in Austin..

judge's weekend is ruined...the game is postponed until end of the month

[revnecro1273]

Originally Posted by smet9772

Stay safe, Ike all ready ruined my vacation planed for Turks and Caicos when it tore up that little Island, and if it ruins football for me I will hate the name Ike forever.

now you have something in common with tina turner

[The Judge]

This thing may come right up the Gulf Freeway (I-45). I'm heading out at noon.

[Gerk]

Take care Judge and any other Mall rats in the path of this one

[revnecro1273]

Originally Posted by The Judge

This thing may come right up the Gulf Freeway (I-45). I'm heading out at noon.

right through downtown houston huh?

[TN TITAN Fan In STL]

JUDGE AND OTHER MALL MEMBERS IN HARMS WAY PLEASE STAY SAFE AND GOOD LUCK.THIS IS A MORNING UPDATE FROM DR.JEFF MASTERS WEATHERUNDERGROUND BLOG ABOUT IKE:

Hurricane Ike is intensifying dramatically. The central pressure has dropped 11 mb in just four hours, and stood at 947 mb at 7 pm EDT. The latest Hurricane Hunter data show that the pressure is continuing to fall at a rapid pace. The winds have not caught up yet to the pressure fall, and remain at Catgeroy 2 strength. The satellite presentation of the hurricane has improved markedly, as Ike has walled off the dry air that was bothering it, and has built a solid eyewall of 9 miles diameter of very intense thunderstorms. The appearance of Ike on infrared satellite loops is similar to Hurricane Wilma during its rapid intensification phase, when Wilma became the strongest hurricane on record. Like Wilma, Ike has a very tiny "pinhole" eye, but the storm is huge in size. Ike has a long way to go to match Wilma, but I expect Ike will be at least a Category 3 hurricane by morning, and probably a Category 4.

Ike is almost as large as Katrina was, and this large wind field is already beginning to pile up a formidable storm surge. Tides are running 2-4 feet above normal along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the west coast of Florida. Tides have risen one foot above normal in Galveston too. The water level will continue to rise as Ike approaches Texas, and NOAA's experimental storm surge forecast is calling for a 10% chance that the storm tide from Ike will reach 10-12 feet at Galveston, and 18-21 feet on the south and east sides of Houston.

Ike is likely to be a extremely dangerous major hurricane at landfall, and will likely do $10-$30 billion in damage. The chances of hundreds of people being killed in this storm is high if people do not heed evacuation orders. It is possible that Ike will make a direct hit on Galveston as a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds. The potential storm surge from such a hit could be in the 15-25 foot range,which is capable of overwhelming the 17 foot sea wall in Galveston. I put the odds of such an event at about 5%.

[BigdaddyQH]

Judge, we have our differences all the time, but it is time to put petty things like football aside. I sincerely hope that you and yours do not suffer any harm, or that you properties that you may have to leave behind do ot suffer any damage. This is going to be a bad hit for the Houston area, especially if the storm makes landfall south of them, exposing Houston the the Northeast side of the storm.

Good luck, and I hope that the city is spared.

[be47320]

this one is the real deal, going to be unavoidable, corpus area is ****ed...my house is going to be full this weekend with friends and family evacing.