Hmmm...Bill's "pure and simple" theory makes me wonder why those prayers didn't work for Andrew, which intensified greatly before landfall. Maybe not enough folks were praying? Somebody picking and choosing which prayers to answer? Oh, never mind, not a religious discussion board.

In addition to the SST's that somebody mentioned, dry air trained in from the west, and some shearing looked like it occured. Will be interesting to see what theories - other than just prayer (no, I'm not discounting it, really have no idea - just hope people look for an answer that will help predict things a little better than that) - come to light in the years to come.