Hurricane Ike

Ike is getting close. Coastal counties up and down the coast have already issued mandatory evacuations. The computer models have been varying wildly over the last 24 hours, so at this point, the location at which Ike will make landfall is still not certain. Most likely, it will hit between Corpus Christi and Houston on Friday night/Saturday morning. While coastal communities are fleeing, many folks around here don't seem to be taking it too seriously. History has shown, of course, the folly of that line of thinking. I should note, however, that the evacuation for Hurricane Rita in 2005 was its own disaster that resulted in loss of life. We are inland quite a ways, and while our county isn't technically an "evacuation county", we can still expect hurricane force winds and a lot of rain depending upon the location of landfall.

One little scary bit: Google Maps currently has Ike going directly over my office:


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NHC and Weather Underground aren't that precise :) Oh, and I'd like to plug the blog of Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.