Ike headed for TX

I haven't blogged in several days, so it's probably time to update.

My family spent the weekend at Chickasaw State Park in Henderson, TN (rural TN south of Jackson) and I haven't experienced better early September weather in a long time! Temps were absolutely perfect following a couple of cool, wet days. Clouds hung in until Saturday afternoon, so the temperatures stayed in the upper 70s to lower 80s. Evenings were very pleasant and mornings slightly cool. Made for a great weekend!

Turning to current events, a cold front slipped through yesterday and resides just south of the Memphis area today. This should make for another pretty nice day with slightly below normal temps and moderate humidity. A slight chance of rain exists, mainly along the front to our south. The front returns as a warm front tomorrow and we get back into a more late summer-like regime with higher humidity and warmer conditions. Highs will be near 90 Friday and Saturday and with the humidity, it will feel like summer. Scattered showers and t'storms may help some areas.

After passing over portions of the Caribbean and then Cuba, Hurricane Ike appears headed for the TX coast, somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston. The warm waters of the Gulf and minimal upper level shear will likely combine to strengthen Ike into a major hurricane (category 3) by landfall early Saturday morning. We'll keep an eye on it. I would encourage you to read Dr. Jeff Master's blog from Wunderground Tropical. His post from this morning even includes a photograph from inside Ike's eye taken by the Hurricane Hunters in the NOAA P-3 aircraft!