Huge Hurricane Ike in Gulf, Hurricane Warnings Issued

1PM CDT Update
Hurricane Warnings are now up from Morgan City, LA to Baffin Bay, Texas, hurricane conditions could reach those areas by late tomorrow night.

Tropical Storm Warnings are up from south of Baffin Bay to Port Mansfield, and a Hurricane Watch remains there as well.

Tropical Storm Warnings are up from East of Morgan City to the Mississippi Alabama border.

It appears the largest threat from Ike will be the storm surge.

The entirety of Galveston Island is under a mandatory evacuation, coastal communities along the upper Texas coast will very likely be severely affected by surge.

Another area, that may be associated with the remnants of Josephine is now being watched northeast of the Leeward Islands as 91L.

6:45AM CDT Update
From Recon reports it appears the eyewall replacement cycle has begun on Ike. This means that once this

The track is similar to what last night was, and most models are in line.

More to come later today...

10 PM CDT Update
New Track puts Ike near or just north Freeport Texas, and the worst the surge over Galveston area Saturday morning with 125MPH winds (Strength may be higher or lower). Surge will be large, winds north will be large, up to College Station possibly could get Hurricane Force winds.

More to come tomorrow.

6:45PM CDT Update

Ike's pressure continues to drop, rapidly, even though the overall windspeed has not caught up. Ike is still a massive storm that is rapidly gaining strength. Those in the path should follow evacuation orders and other information from local officials.

Original Update
Tropical Storm Warnings are now up from the mouth of the Mississippi river westward to Cameron, LA. Tropical Storm conditions could be felt there as early 24 hours from now.

Hurricane Watches are up west of Cameron, LA into Texas down to Port Mansfield. This means that Hurricane Conditions are possible in those areas within 36 hours.

Ike is a huge system, much larger than usual wind field, and much larger area of storm surge than you would normally see in the Gulf. Hurricane force winds extend an amazing 90 miles away from the center, along with Tropical Storm force winds around 210 Miles from the center. A very large area could be affected by Ike. Storm Surge is also very large, and could affect a large area of coastline.

Ike is unusual in a number of ways, double eye features, low pressure, with extended hurricane force winds, surface winds found higher than flight level winds, and surface centers matching up perfectly with flight level centers, and the pressure continues to fall. Prepare for the unexpected.

If you are in an evacuation area in Texas, I'd strongly suggest taking up that advice.

Hurricane Ike is a Category 2 hurricane in the Gulf, it's large size will keep it from strengthening too much, but I suspect it still will. The forecast is still a Category 4 storm. Because of its size it will likely still be hurricane force well inland, so places such as Austin and inland Texas may be receiving outages and other wind issues.

The story with Ike will be the large area of high winds and surge, and points east and north of the landfall may get hurricane conditions a good way from the Center. Even parts of Florida have seen some of the outer activity of Ike today in some strong outer bands that have moved through.

The track still suggests it making landfall north of Corpus Christi.

The low pressure area that are the remains of Josephine has come back to life today, and may have to be watched. They are currently located northeast of the Leeward Islands.

More to Come soon...

Mark Sudduth and my friend Mike Watkins are out in the HIRT team vehicle studying Hurricane Ike near Galveston, Visit and see the info at Hurricanetrack.com You can see where they are located now at our Ike Google Map

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