I agree; Katrina's western side was so attenuated at landfall that a lot of those offshore points did not get hit hard. Now an area of high density will be right in the strong part of the storm if the track goes any further east.

Looking at the sat images the last hour or so, is it possible that some dry air has gotten further into the core? I'm seeing the "donut" shape break back down into the spiral banding features, which would indicate weakening. However is it possible that this is related to the ERC that is still occuring? While the air to the east and south of the storm is certainly a lot drier than a couple days ago, as long as the storm was moving over warmer water it would seem strengthening would continue. Can someone post an updated image of the location of the eddy, perhaps she was going through a cooler area of water. Also could the slower speed be a factor.

for Thunderbird12: actually from what I've seen this year, they seem to take a really long time, on the order of 24-36 hours, to complete.