Still In The Cone

Ernesto gained a little bit of strength overnight and the projected path still hasn't changed much since yesterday. Five days out would normally see the line and cone shifting back and forth, but we haven't seen much of that yet since the computer models seem to be in general agreement with this forecast track. The hurricane center seems to favor strengthening over the next five days maybe getting it to Category 3 by early Thursday morning. This last advisory gives it a little jog to the right which would put the storm east of us, that is much better than west of us because of storm surge. Remember Hurricane Rita last year hit the TX/LA border (120 Miles from here) as a Cat 3 and brought a 9 foot storm surge to Iberia Parish. 4 more feet and the Gulf of Mexico would have been lapping at the end of my driveway. Anything east would give us an offshore wind driving the water away. Wind is bad, but I would rather deal with wind than water any day! Labor Day weekend is coming up and most of the hotels are already booked. I hate to wish the unfortunate on New Orleans or the MS Gulf Coast or anyone near the Gulf, but I don't want it here!