Any hope for us? Look at past History.

Gosh, even though most computer models have shifted Gustav's track slightly more to our west, we clearly remain in the "bullseye" now at less than 4 days out. The current NHC track would not be a direct hit, but it would deal a serious blow to most of SE Louisiana since we would be near the strong side of the storm. Those along the coast will need to begin evacuating tomorrow while most of you can wait until daybreak on Sunday. If you live on the Northshore NORTH of I-12, you should be safe from water....however, if you have those tall pine trees around your house, those can be deadly. To give you some hope, I looked up several past storms heading straight towards us that gave us a scare but turned at the last minute. Hurricane Carmen (1974 Cat. 4) turned westward just in time as did Hurricane Ivan in 2004...Ivan turning to the east. Right now my belief would be a turn to the west as surface high pressure builds down the east coast by late in the weekend. The problem is the turn will come too late for most who must decide by early Sunday on getting out. The longer you delay your decision to leave, the more traffic you can expect to encounter. RIGHT NOW, if you decide to leave...DON'T go west as you would go towards predicted landfall. Unless something changes, a trip to the Florida beaches looks pretty good as they are out of the cone of error. Another update around 11 PM.