Holy chit. If that doesn't look mean as hell I don't know what does.

[lpbk2713]

Look at the size of that damn thing and the darkness of the color all around it. I rode out three hurricanes last year but I don't think I would try it with this one.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. The symmetry of the cloud tops is damn near perfect.

All it's going to do is fluctuate in strength as the current eyewall weakens, then a new larger one takes its place. There is no shear to weaken it, and the waters of the Gulf are only slightly cooler near the Texas coast. Nowhere near enough to drop it much further than a weak 4.

[alittlelark]

2. It does indeed look rather 'Icky'

We can all hope that it dissipates in strength and the evacuations were not nessesary.

BUT - To be on the safe side (NO lessons), let's be safe.

[HappyMoonBat]

3. My advice? Follow the eye!

I hear it's calm in there.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Never mind the fact that you will have to endure the whole thing

just to get INTO the eye. What then? And besides, when the thing hits land the eye will collapse, but the winds at the center will still be near 100 mph.

YOU follow the eye, and get back to us when it becomes subtropical somewhere over Iowa, okay? :P

[Hardrada]

8. I can report from Iowa.

We are only used to twister warnings and strong winds around here and spend half an hour in the basement with our cat and then come up again. If this gives us anything different I will duly report it. In our case, however, we badly need rain since our water table is down by 15 inches.

[karlrschneider]

5. Looks like part of Condi's anatomy...

;-)

[Up2Late]

6. Yup, but I have some Good News and some Bad News...

The Good News is, the computer models are forecasting that it will start to weaken in about 20 to 24 hours and will most only make landfall as a Cat. 4,

The Bad News is that the Forecast track has moved slightly North again which puts going just south and west of Galveston and Houston, just about the worst track a strong Cat 4 could take.

<http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/>

This is the 21 hour forecast, the 9 hour is worst.
Note: This is a self updating graphic.



<http://forecast.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/shadow/tracker/dynamic/200518N_2H.html>

[Wizard777]

7. How about Barbara Bush first thing in the morning?

[mark11727]

9. That's one pissed-off looking fetus...!

[Up2Late]

10. Well, that looks a little better than it did when you posted this

Looks like it's dissipated some of it's energy, and the Forecast track is now north of Galveston and Houston, which is a little better.

[phusion]

11. Definitely!

Hopefully it won't have time to regroup before it hits land...