NY NJ PA Weather Forecasts

Hurricane Ike To Devastate Houston Late Tonight

Hurricane Ike continues to strengthen this morning and will likely reach category 3 strength by this afternoon or early evening.  Hurricane Ike has 105 MPH sustained winds, which is a strong category 2 hurricane.  The size of Hurricane Ike is impressive as the storm takes up about 85% of the Gulf of Mexico this morning.  Hurricane Ike is currently moving over sea surface temperatures in the upper 80’s to around 90, which will fuel the hurricane and allow Ike to continue to intensify.  Locations from Louisiana to northern Mexico will be impacted by this dangerous hurricane.  However, the area I want to focus on is Galveston to Houston, especially Houston, Texas.  

A developing cold front over western Texas associated with a developing trough over the Southwest this morning will begin to steer Hurricane Ike towards the northwest over the next 12 hours.  As a result, Hurricane Ike will make landfall right over Galveston and just to the south of Houston.  This track will produce a storm surge of over 20 feet into Galveston Bay tonight through tomorrow.  This type of storm surge will produce significant damage and serious coastal flooding.  The heavy rain, 5 to 10 inches wide spread with some locations over 10 inches over coastal locations like Galveston can be expected, which will enhance the flooding impact.  Also, winds of over 115 mph sustained can be expected over the Galveston and Houston metro areas.  

As Hurricane Ike moves into northeastern Texas tomorrow evening, Ike will be influenced by the trough to the west and begin to rapidly move towards the central Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley by Sunday.  The remnants of Ike will become a new surface low along an advancing cold front and bring heavy rain to parts of the Mid Atlantic and Northeast by Monday.