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| News - Hurricanes | |||
| Written by Reed Patrick Timmer | |||
| Monday, 08 September 2008 16:56 | |||
Hurricane Ike should intensify over the next few days as the center moves over the extremely warm Caribbean Sea south and west of Cuba. This weekend, Ike passed over Great Inagua Island in the Southern Bahamas as a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 135 mph and a textbook "stadium effect" eye. I nearly made the trip to Inagua before landfall, but wanted to avoid being trapped and missing a potential U.S. landfall. As seen in the visible image below, the outflow pattern and symmetry look intact after passing over the heart of Cuba, so intensification into a major hurricane seems inevitable given the weak upper-level shear. The NHC forecast has Hurricane Ike passing into the central Gulf of Mexico by midweek, making landfall along the central Texas Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon. All the reputable forecast models have a mid-latitude trough bypassing Ike this week, allowing for a more westerly track initially moving northwest through Wednesday. We are planning for an intercept, so check back for updates! 
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