Hurricane Dean - yikes

[bkdelong]

Like a bat out of hell on a motorcycle of incredible energy, Hurricane Dean roared off the Sahara desert and into the Carribbean. While many of us were getting home for the week and slept last night, this powerful monster went from Cat 3 to Cat 4 and is set to become a Cat 5 hurricane sometime today or tonight.

As of 8am this morning, it was clocked with winds of 150 miles per hour - 155 being the max for a Cat 4 - and the sun has just started rising at this point. All computer models have it completely raking straight over Jamaica and into the Yucatan. If it's powerful enough, it can just continue straight over the Yucatan and into the rest of Mexico but there's a chance a hit to land could redirect it. I'd say going over Jamaica could do the same but they're currently predicting it will stay a Cat 5 until it hits Yucatan. The 5-day forecast has the Yucatan slowing it down to a Cat 3 and then the Gulf building it back up to a Cat 4 as it hits land just south of Texas in Tamaulipas.

Mother Nature is fickle and Hurricanes sometimes wildly unpredictable. Even the smallest landfall can suck the energy out of one and redirect it. We'll have to wait and see what happens when it hits Jamaica. But if it hits Jamaica as a Cat 5 - I shutter to think. Hopefully evacuations are well underway and folks are getting off the island or at least to much safe locations.