Hurricane Dean poses major Caribbean storm threat

[shawmut]

Source: Reuters

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean strengthened and threatened to become a dangerously powerful storm as it plowed toward the Caribbean and aimed for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula or the Gulf of Mexico beyond, forecasters said on Thursday.

More immediately in the path of the 2007 Atlantic storm season's first hurricane were the Lesser Antilles, in particular the islands of Dominica and St. Lucia and the French territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane's top sustained winds had reached 100 miles per hour (160 km per hour) by 5 p.m. EDT, making it a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

Computer models showed the hurricane could become an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm as it passed just south of Jamaica early next week

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070816/ts_nm/storm_dean_dc

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Oh God!!!!

I have been to Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

:cry:

[MuseRider]

2. Me too.

Beautiful islands, nice people. Don't we have a DUer on St. Lucia? I have to go check. I hope she will be OK.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. I am not certain...

I do know that DUer malaise lives in Jamaica.

As you say, beautiful islands, wonderful people.

[MuseRider]

4. Odd, I just went through

my In Box and could not find the correspondence I had with her. Grrrr, that was some long list in there! I hope she writes and lets us know if she is OK when Dean is done.

I could just smack myself, I can't seem to remember right now.

[MuseRider]

5. I found her

and she is not in St. Lucia now, back in the states. laruemtt is the poster. Whew, it is good to know she is safe.

[greatauntoftriplets]

24. I know who she is....

And did not know that she was in St. Lucia. What a beautiful island that is.

[William Tannenbaum]

6. Certainly

the storm is strengthened because of Global Warming.

Thanks Shrub for trashing Kyoto.

[Baclava]

7. 89 degree water in the gulf here...

6:15 AM EDT Update 17 Aug 2007

Hurricane Dean has "shot the gap" between Martinique to the North and St. Lucia to the south. But clipping the southern part of Martinique more. The official forecast takes it to category 4 by the time it reaches Jamaica, and after that water temperatures are high enough to support a Category 5, which some models project.

8:25 AM EDT Update 17 Aug 2007
Dean is now in the Eastern Caribbean and the track models have begun to shift a bit north due to interactions with an Upper Level low, causing a real issue for some of the models. This means, now more than ever, that the entire Gulf should be watching it.

[auburngrad82]

8. Better fill up your gas tanks. The oil companies will use this to raise prices

I also noticed another refinery fire. Just when prices are heading down, the oil companies pull them back up.

[Baclava]

14. Better stock up on coffee too.

I gotta have my beans.

[auburngrad82]

16. Gas prices have curtailed my intake of Starbucks

Hard to be a "latte drinkin' liberal" when you can't afford the latte.

[Baclava]

22. I grind my own.

Coffee grinders are fun.

I like paper shredders too...does that mean I have an appetite for destruction?

[RL3AO]

9. I don't have a good feeling for Texas.

The track has shifted north and the NHC is less confident in the forecast.

" IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT GUIDANCE FOR DAY 4 AND 5 IS MORE UNCERTAIN TODAY THAN YESTERDAY."

[Eurobabe]

10. this thing could very well finish off NOLA

if it heads that way. God forbid.

[RL3AO]

11. It won't get that far east.

[Eurobabe]

12. who really knows at this point?

:shrug: Someone is going to get nailed. Maybe this will be a redux of Cancun's Gilbert of the late 80s?

[tammywammy]

13. There's a pressure system

that will prevent the hurricane from going that far. It'll likely hit Texas.

[Eurobabe]

15. oh great, my friend is gonna love that news!

stay safe all you south coast people!

[RantinRavin]

17. Never say never

[RL3AO]

18. Yeah. The GDFL is has been shifting north but I don't know how it can possibly hit Louisiana.

[RantinRavin]

19. It is forecasting

that the upper level low currently east of Florida will not track west as fast as previously predicted and will begin to erode the western side of the high that is currently forcing Dean on a west track.

[RL3AO]

20. Yep. It has it stalling in the GOM.

[Baclava]

21. Never say never...

If it gets in the Gulf it will take on a life of it's own.

It's The Law.

[Baclava]

23. Cat 4

9:35PM EDT 17 August 2007 Update
Recon has found 145 MPH winds, making Dean now a stronger Category 4 hurricane. Minimum pressure is now 936 mb. Dean is still strengthening.

Jamaica... For comparison, hurricane gilbert in 1988 had135MPH winds when it hit Jamaica.

[junior college]

25. Dean would be more fair if

the US takes the brunt of the storm