Hurricane Katrina faces reality

Hurricane Katrina bore down on the gulf coast over the weekend building top speeds of 175 mph winds and gusts much faster. New Orleans was facing its worst nightmare, being drowned in almost 30 feet of water filled with graves, decaying bodies, toxic waste, and sewage. It was pretty close to over for the city that so many of us have come to know as "new orleans." However as of Monday morning around 5:25 est the storm met head on with a front that was moving across the southern states and carried Katrina due north and slightly east sparing New Orleans what basically could have been the end of the city as we know it. The old neighborhood known simply as the "French Quarter" was looking at being completely swept away. The old buildings and all the old school architechture was to be no more. However we still may be able to see New Orleans as it once was. The hurricane season is far from over. It ends November 30. September being the peak month, New Orleans isn't out of the line of fire yet. Now it missed New Orleans by about 30 miles, the eye that is, but what about the other cities? Gulfport, MS, where the population is about 25 percent that of New Orleans was in the direct line of the eye. What of those people? It's not so much that life will be lost as much as it is how MUCH life will be lost. We don't care about what we don't know/see/hear about. Hurricane Katrina turned from a CAT 5 storm "kill storm" into a CAT 4 storm as it made its second landfall in Louisiana this morning around 610am est. That saved most of the gulf from the devestation that was predicted from about Saturday on. Now Katrina is making her way north east and is situated over the north eastern portion of the state of Mississippi. It's time to face reality Katrina. You aint gonna be around for long. The loss of life is estimated at around 55, most of which occured in a single building collapse in Mississippi. This is as of 12:00am est. Tuesday morning. Ohio Valley look out in the next day or so you will be swamped with rain in the range of 2-4 inches which doesnt sound like much, but when you've been in a drought thats enough to cause some minor flooding. Some localized areas could stand to see around 6-8 inches of rain from the remnants not to mention the possible and likely threat of tornadic activity. The Northeast will see some strong thunderstorms from this system as it makes its way across the Ohio Valley and on into the region around Wednesday and on into Thursday. Scattered at best, nothing steady. Beautiful weekend ahead for the Northeast, New York City at least. Which is where im based out of. This is your weather blog report/update. Stay Tuned...updates on the 8's.