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News -
Hurricanes
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Written by Reed Patrick Timmer
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 10:25 |
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Hurricane Gustav is strengthening rapidly in the warm ocean waters south of Hispaniola today, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum surface pressure of 982 mb indicated in the 11:00 am advisory. The only factor that could contribute to Gustav weakening is a passage over the center of Cuba, which is not being forecast by any of the models, so this storm is almost guaranteed to become a monster.
As seen below, a majority of the models take Gustav on a slow northwestward track toward southwest Cuba by Wednesday, with a turn to the west/southwest for a few days thereafter. If this turn occurs, then Gustav will avoid the orography of Cuba, and will likely be un-phased by land. This would be a bad scenario for the U.S. Gulf Coast, as Gustav would likely make landfall somewhere between Mobile, AL and the Mexico Gulf Coast as a major hurricane. This could be a very dangerous and life threatening situation not only for the U.S., but also for Cuba. Stay tuned for updates..
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