Friday: 11 PM Update

The latest information would suggest that the track of Hurricane Dean has shifted south a little bit', so the threat of a landfalling Hurricane along the immediate Gulf Coast line appears to be less likely. But, wow, is he looking impressive. Obviously since the sun has set we cannot see the visible satellite imagery of Dean, but the IR satellite shows a very, very impressive storm. This storm is intensifying at a very fast rate, and as of 11 PM, winds are now sustained at 145 mph inside the eyewall surrounding the center of the storm. This makes Hurricane Dean now a Category 4 storm. Jamaica looks to be pounded by this one, as the eye will cross directly over the island, or a few miles south of it. This would put the absolute worst portion of the storm over the island. Hurricanes have 4 different "quadrants", per say, and the worst, most destructive part of the storm is the Northeast quadrant. While under a Hurricane Watch now, the island will most certainly be under a Hurricane Warning by tomorrow. I hate to say it, but I don't wanna see the videos after this storm passes them. Just look at the very well defined eye now on the IR satellite via the photo below. Personally, I think this storm will undoubtedly reach Cat. 5 status. Often times the storm may weaken temporarily while it undergoes what they call the "eye wall replacement" cycle. Basically, the eye has to keep forming new eyes, and it causes, as stated above, temporary weakening, but by no means does it mean the storm as a whole is weakening. South Texas needs to monitor this storm VERY closely. If this storm crosses the Yucatan Pen. as expected, a lot of weakening will occur. What happens after that is vitally important. If it crosses the Gulf, strengethening may occur again before hitting Texas, but if the storm continues over land into Mexico, then the storm will get ripped apart. So, many questions still need to be answered. But the high pressure system that is giving us all this hot weather is the reason the Gulf appears to be saved by this monster right now. Update tomorrow at some point. I cannot wait to see what the visible satellite of this storm looks like. What a "perfect"
storm this should be!