As many of you may know, I produce a variety of weather imagery maps for web and broadcast in SD and HD. Since there is a lot of interest in the path of hurricane Gustav, I thought I’d post a near-live image, which will update every 30 minutes.
Click image for full size or animate this image: Click for loop>>> 
What is interesting to note, is that as of this writing, Gustav seems to be losing organization. The eye, which was well defined just before making landfall on Cuba, seems very nebulous. Watch and wait.
Update: 3:30PM PST, while there was some weakening earlier, it now looks like signs of increased angular momentum are showing up in the satellite imagery. A defined eye may appear again.
Anthony
Major solar wind dynamic pressures if accompanied by the Bz component of IMF being from the ‘south’ puts more solar wind induced magnetic fields and electricity into the earth’s magnetosphere and increase the electricity in our atmosphere down to the stratosphere and troposphere levels. This extra electricity produces extra heating through joule heating. http://www.sgo.fi/SPECIAL/Contributions/Makarova.pdf .If you plot daily the atmospheric temperatures at different elevations as given by say AMSU and then show the dates of major solar wind ram pressure spikes of over 5 npa as given by OMNIWEB, you will see this. However, not all the heating at the various levels is due to ram pressure spikes and joule heating and one need to read the data carefully.
On the other hand, some have suggested that it is the extra electricity that really drives the hurricanes, but I cannot confirm this as the amount research into this is very limited. James McCanney has written extensively on this in his book PRINCIPIA METEOROLOGIA. I am currently collecting data to see how often major hurricanes are present when major solar wind dynamic pressures are present. During Katrina it was very evident.
Hurricanes, floods show risks of climate change: UN
http://uk.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=UKL155749220080901
We rode through a couple of squall lines in Gustav’s N.E. arm. Quite a headwind and fun times for all. We’re now safely, and rather unswayingly, in Dothan, AL.
Anthony
You may have noted today that IKE has been suddenly up graded to hurricane 3 level from level 1 . It is worthy of note that there was also today a major solar wind dynamic pressure pulse as idicated by the shortening of the magnetopause standoff distance from nearly 15 Re to 8 Re. This pulse provides the extra electrical energy for the hurricanes as I indicated before. Detail solar wind pressure pulse details are not avaiable until 2-4 weeks after the event so Iam guided by the sudden change in the standoff distance.
Maybe the US government is holding off the supernova of our Sun under my direction and I got the solar programs wrong and fouled up the chemistry of the Sun and no sunspots are the result. I am the man of wisdom right out of the book of Revelation and this is year 11 of the Apocalypse. The good old fashioned winter last year was my solar program.
On September 1, 2008 the US government was testing a solar program for incoming supernova blast wave. Hurricane Gustov weakened instead of strengthened. And the thousands of men with a marshal law plan for the United States were disappointed. Better luck next time fellows. I thought they were going to back hurricane Gustov up and run over Cuba again.
By the way I invented hurricane control a few years ago. Strontium hydroxide sprayed into the clouds of a hurricane drops it to a level 1. Hurricanes are a beast twice conquered by me.