SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
If you live along the I-10 corridor between Pensacola, Florida and Beaumont, Texas, please scroll to bottom of this post for a special list of recommendations I have regarding hurricane preparations for your family. This storm has the potential to be as bad or worse than Katrina, especially for cities such as Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge. Towns along the Route 90 corridor could experience a direct hit, from Houma to Morgan City to New Iberia. Please take the necessary precautions now and review the Red Cross Planning Guide as well as my suggestions below.

FRI AM PROGRAMMING NOTE. Now that my 5 year old will be at kindergarten full time each day, I plan to complete and post a daily update either 9:30-10:30 AM or 1:00 and 2:00 PM during major storm periods. This is to clarify posting times for those of you keep checking back for updates, and are disappointed to find none. However, graphics and previous text or links will be tweaked as conditions change. Although I am on a sabbatical from school this year, there is much to do each day watching and teaching nearly-three-year old in addition to keeping the home clutter free of toys and completing coursework for my certificate renewal. I tell you this not because I am self-absorbed, it is so everyone is aware of the factors that will affect the frequency and extent of storm updates. Heck it might even help keep posts shorter!
SNEAK PEEK AT AFTERNOON UPDATE IDEAS: I am conducting an analysis of the factors that will influence Gustav's wind speed, the expected slowdown Monday into Wednesday, and how that could also be affect Hanna's trajectory. I will discuss Hanna's projected path beyond next Tuesday based on upper air factors, and her sustained wind speeds during that time.
EAST COAST RESIDENTS: I strongly suggest filling up your tank early in the weekend, as gas prices will eventually be affected by this storm, since nearly 90% of U.S. Gulf oil production is expected to be shut in by Sunday. Example: In Clearbranch, MS gas at a Kroger store went from 3.19 to 3.51 in less than 24 hours. You know that price action is going to work north.

THU PM UPDATE: Three years ago today I was beside myself in bewilderment as to why it took until the morning of August 28 to issue evacuation orders for the City of New Orleans. Finally in the mid-morning hours that Sunday, Mayor Nagin made the announcement. Unfortunately it was beyond too late, and the delay was ultimately a death sentence for many. In 2008 there is hope that the lesson has been learned, for it seems FEMA and Governor Jindal are making it clear they will stay ahead of this storm and a state of emergency was issued early Thursday for Louisiana. It appears that federal and local officials now fully understand that a major evacuation requires at least 60 hours..which is well before even a Hurricane Watch is normally issued (at 36 hours). 
The projected path of Gustav is very different from that of Katrina's and if this comes to pass, puts New Orleans and the southern Louisiana coast at greater risk for long lasting damage. Why? First, the significant loss of wetlands since the storm have reduced this natural buffer even further (a rate of 3 football fields per day). Second, a slow moving strong hurricane approaching from the southeast or south is the worst possible track, for it allows the storm to continuously funnel Gulf water in across Lake Borgne as well as the Breton and Chandeleur sounds into Lake Ponchartrain. Well before any landfall storm surge, this wall of water will overwhelm whatever levee systems are there, repaired or not, just by sheer force of volume. If Gustav slows down by day 5 or 6 as NHC is indicating, this will make the flooding problem just as or more catastrophic as Katrina. The only way to view this storm in a good light is that at least this time, there are less people to evacuate. The image below was taken from a special report on nola.com the week before Katrina, and featured as part of my reporting in August 2005.

For those new to the site since our last major hurricane event, please know there are a few procedures I follow with regard to safety of readers in affected areas. If people reading this site happen to be located in an area of forecasted danger, I normally post recommendations that I would take were it my family facing the situation. However, the responsibility for taking appropriate action lies with the individual, and any harm that might come to someone while following my recommendations is a result of nature driving the environmental conditions. This of course has never happened to me in nearly 5 years of forecasting online, however I make it clear that if someone chooses to act on my ideas, it was a choice of their making, and not something I forced upon them. None of this "But Mr. Foot said I should..."
IMPORTANT STORM PREPARATION IDEAS
IF YOU LIVE ANYWHERE ALONG THE INTERSTATE 10 CORRIDOR BETWEEN PENSACOLA, FL AND BEAUMONT, TX, I offer these ten "Foot Would Follow" Recommendations. This is only a temporary partial list of actions I personally would take if my family were facing this storm. More details will be added Friday and Saturday, for I know many of you will be preparing to head out by then.
1. GET REAL GONE: Making arrangements with family at least 100 miles inland (for peace of mind regarding food, electricity, supplies, availability of cash from your bank, cell phone coverage, etc.). If no family nearby, you better get on the phone and reserve a hotel room or two immediately. Remember the gridlocked traffic? Have 2 evacuation routes mapped out.
2. LEARN FROM THE PAST: Reviewing what happened in recent hurricanes.. what went right and wrong about preparation? What would you do different this time. If you've never been through one, talk to someone rational and realistic in the neighborhood about what they are doing. I've read on forums that Gulf coast residents felt they should have left a day earlier in Rita/Katrina.
3. AM I COVERED: Check homeowner’s insurance, what does the policy say about wind versus water damage? How does it define flooding? Locate all the important family/home documents, take 30 minutes right now and put them in a binder, and put that in a water tight bag. Throw in a couple pencils, sharpies and some notepads. Review the links posted here on An Emergency Plan for Your Family... the Red Cross and FEMA also have good information.
4. STOP THE SALE: Don't be attempting to close on a home right now as insurer’s will not provide a policy within 30 days of an area being declared under a Hurricane Watch. Betcha didn't know that one.
5. BATTEN DOWN: Remove the boats today if feasible and hauling them very far inland. Boaters know how long this takes so it is not a quick and easy job. Leaving your boat at the dock allows it to become a missile into someone else's property or on to a public road hampering relief efforts.
6. DIVIDE AND CONQUER: One of you head to Home Depot today, the other go to the grocery store, right now this exact moment. Non perishables, comfort items, bottled water, canned goods and an opener, soap, insect repellent, first aid kit, batteries batteries batteries. Try an Autoparts store first before the HD. Before you go, Google the phrase: "100 items that disappear in an emergency." I've read that in Lafayette, LA many stores have already run out of supplies, and a similar situation in places even in Jackson, MS.
7. STORM SURGE: If your home is at risk for water or wind damage during landfall… and it’s a Category 3 or above, there’s not much that can be done to protect it. Boarding up windows won't help if the roof is ripped off and the walls collapse inward. Don’t believe me? Look at pictures of Pensacola before and after Ivan in September 2004. What's more important..getting your family to safety or fruitlessly protecting a structure that can be rebuilt?
8. TANK UP OR ELSE: Filling up the car right now this exact moment on the way to Home Depot and before moving the boats. Try to fill up a few of those red lawnmower cans too.
9. WHO'S ON THE TEAM: Making sure everyone in the family is on board and taking the storm seriously. Check on neighbors and elderly or those less mobile. What is the plan to get them out? Who’s in charge of them? Where will they be going? What's the phone number there? Better check on that crazy guy in the neighborhood who says he rode out the Biblical Flood, so he's not leaving this time.
10. TAKE THE INITIATIVE: DON'T WAIT FOR LOCAL OFFICIALS TO CALL AN EVACUATION. If you are of sound mind and body, are a responsible adult with or without a mortgage, with or without children and/or a spouse, and have generally developed a good sense of right and wrong… then by all means.. beat the crowd and evac early to avoid the miles of traffic line that YOU KNOW are coming. Don’t wait for contraflow. Don’t wait to be stuck on a bus that’s stalled in traffic with no air conditioning. It would have taken 72 hours to evacuate pre-Katrina New Orleans, yet the call was not publicly issued until Sunday morning less than 24 hours before landfall. That was way beyond too late.
CONCLUSION: I know some of my reader friends will be saying, "There goes Armaggedon Weather Foot again." I wouls say back to them... "Hey, you have to be right ALL THE TIME.. in a storm like this, I only have to be right ONCE." This time I hope I'm wrong. I’m not advocating that you jump in the car today and split. I’m saying that areas along and south of I-10 are at highest risk for damage and service disruption from this storm. If you want to have a reasonable existence in the post storm period during recovery, make the preparations now.
Let's compare this situation to what would happen if Gustav were heading for the Chesapeake Bay/Baltimore-DC, (as Hannah might do next week!) and I was going to experience 100 mph winds at my house in Dundalk, MD. I would be leaving and fairly soon, probably by Friday. I’d head directly for State College, PA, not up the 95 corridor with my other 9 million metro friends. Sound ridiculous to go 4 hours inland? Not when you consider I have 2 small children, and want to temporarily relocate to an area that is not directly affected, so I can still get groceries and supplies because they haven’t been snapped up already by people living in a “semi-storm” zone that just went a few miles more west to the next store over.
Much remains to discuss, including what Hannah may bring late next week to the Southeast and or Mid Atlantic. Please continue to be patient as the site undergoes revisions. I hear your suggestions to widen the fields, and I am trying to launch a 3 column format, but don't want to inadvertently delete all the features in the sidebar. I hope the biege/green motif is acceptable for now until I find something better.
FRIDAY'S UPDATE WILL FOCUS ON HANNAH, THE FACTORS INFLUENCING HER PATH, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE MID-ATLANTIC NEEDS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS NEXT STORM.