And you thought Charley and Frances were bad..

[KvHagedorn]

This looks just like Gilbert in 1988.. except Gilbert wasn't this strong this early. Better get into a bunker if you are in the path of this one. Denty?

[KvHagedorn]

Storm Track..

[KvHagedorn]

Projected path..

[The Rock]

160MPH winds. Eeeek. Denty, I hope your nowhere NEAR that beast.

[KvHagedorn]

I really hope we hear from him. He's in Kingston, which is on the coast, right where the eye is plotted to make landfall.

[Novdid]

Man that one's a monster...I suddenly have found a great fondness of European weather (except the occasional floods though).

[Brian R.]

I have a friend who lives in Granada. She says there isn't a building left standing where she lives. No schools, no 100-year old churches, nothing.

[KvHagedorn]

That's sad. It was only category3 then too.

Looks like Jamaica got off relatively light. It seemed to weaken and go around, but now it's back to category 5 again. Looks like it wants to go West instead of hitting Florida again. Good for Fla but bad for whoever gets it (it might even hit Texas now.)

[KvHagedorn]

This is one of those perfect, classic, well-organized storms. Reminds me more of Gilbert than anything.. that one hit Jamaica and the Caymans too, but didn't reach category 5 until it was between the Caymans and Cozumel, Mexico. I would not have wanted to be on the Yucatan when that thing hit with its 175MPH winds..

Here's a new sattelite photo of Ivan..

[KvHagedorn]

And the infrared.. scary..

[Jon P. Inghram]

If it gets too much worse then can start a new category 6 and use the description "Terrible."

[KvHagedorn]

Well, they just interviewed a pilot back from flying into this monster. He said winds were at 175MPH, but were recorded closer to sea level were gusts of 215MPH.. 215MPH!

He said the pressure was the same as that of Camille when it made landfall in 1969 near Gulfport, Miss. with its record 25ft storm surge. This is an event.

By the way, they keep saying Florida, but it's not going there. I say it will graze the tip of the Yucatan and then likely slow its forward progress like Frances did.. from there who knows where it might go? It's already moving awfully slowly, which might be a good thing.*

*edit: Not for Grand Cayman. That land mass will have little effect like Jamaica might have had upon this system. If this monster takes a slowww march over Grand Cayman, I'm afraid of what will happen there.

[SteveC]

I've been following this too

All webcams seem dead now, but a couple of live weather stations still functioning somehow:

Now, am I reading this right - currently 15.16 inches of rain per hour? http://www.weatherincayman.com/ (not sure about the 1mph winds though - maybe the anemometer is busted!)

http://www.weatherincayman.com/zf1ej/wx.htm

http://www.weatherincayman.com/currcndx.htm

All saying pressure is dropping rapidly as it approaches.

http://www.hurricanecity.com/dam/dam2004.htm

How stupid - I hope the security forces involves shoot to kill this lot...

In the height of the storm several heavily armed gangs of criminals were engaging the security forces in gun battles in Kingston, endangering the security forces' lives

[SteveC]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3644228.stm

[KvHagedorn]

You know, they used to have smarter people at the Weather Channel. These girls keep talking about Ivan "changing its track." It's been going in practically a straight line all along! I remember when the real meteorologists from the National Hurricane Center were tracking Gilbert.. they said such large systems often create their own steering current and don't respond as readily to external forces like those that they are talking about now. Charley was a minor thing compared to this system, especially when it was vulnerable to being turned. This one's been heading WNW consistently, but they still stick to their fairy tale scenario. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it might not be as severe a turn as they say. This storm is headed for the Yucatan and isn't changing its mind, apparently. If it stays straight it might even hit Texas!