Ike Bigger than Katrina - Yep, Really

Ike's radius of tropical storm force winds is 275 miles & 115 miles for hurricane force winds. Katrinas were 230 miles for tropical storm force & 105 for hurricane force.

Ike is currently a category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph. The storm is not currently forecast to intensify rapidly, but he is forecast to intensify. He is still projected to make landfall late Friday night/early Saturday morning as a major hurricane, which is category 3 or higher. The current official NHC forecast calls for a landfall near Galveston, with winds of 105 knots (approx. 121 mph), making it a category 3 hurricane.

Again, the major concern with the storm is the surge. The title of Dr. Masters' blog this afternoon is, " Ike's storm surge an extreme danger to Texas". One notable quote from that entry, "Ike will probably inundate a 250-mile stretch of Texas coast from Port O'Connor to the Louisiana border with a 10-15 foot storm surge. This will occur even if Ike is a Category 1 storm at landfall. If Ike is a Category 3+ hurricane at landfall, surges of 20+ feet are possible." Be sure to see Dr. Masters' blog for his usual great explanation of current conditions, and to get his forecast for Ike.

More links have been added to the left side of the blog and more information has been added down below. I'll be added even more later tonight or tomorrow.

On to the images, even though it's almost time for some more to come out from NHC & WU :) I'll add those this evening.

clicking these images will open the larger version in a new window

1 pm & 4 pm CDT NHC Forecast Tracks



8 am & 2 pm EDT Computer Models from WU
(standard & zoom views)