In my completely unscientific opinion;) it's probably going to hit around the "Golden Triangle" area - Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange. If so, your Aunt is wise to evac. I've been watching the weather channels, and the determining factor may be what's left of the high that is over the great lake area now. If it moves south, it will push it into Texas, if not, it will probably bend toward the LA, Miss, maybe Fla panhandle area.

Like I said, prayers to all. That's the crapshoot of Gulf hurricanes, once they get into the Gulf, they can get shoved anywhere and it's hard to predict where, so everybody has to prepare for it, which can be a huge pain in the butt!!! It gets like the story of the boy who cried wolf. Eventually, you kind of get numb to it...

it can come here...as long as it downgrades itself to a cat 2 =). i'll take one for the team.

Better here than New Orleans and Mississippi . . . those people have been through enough. But I'd like it to drop to category 2, please.

I am so glad they are allowing pets to accompany their owners this time. I know there is no way in hell I would leave my cats behind.

I have to say growing up in San Antonio I felt pretty safe, there were a couple of tornado threats but they never touched down. I feel the same way living here in Austin. I can't imagine living on the coast and fearing hurricane season every year. But I am most terrified of earthquakes and would never think about living in California.

and the people in southwest la haven't? no offense to anyone in new orleans but we've been through hell too.

Are you outta there now?

we are under a tropical storm warning and a lot of heavy thunderstorm cells are starting to roll in...i think i'm about to high tail it back to tally soon...

I'm sorry - didn't mean to leave you out. ALL the Gulf Coast residents hit by Katrina and Rita - which also includes part of Texas - deserve a break.

Relatives are safe and out of harm's way, but I'm still following the path
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphi...143912W_sm.gif

Yes, I just rolled into Austin within the hour.

Thank you.

Nate, I'm glad you're safe.

I topped off my gas tank tonight while it was still at $3.58. I wanted to make sure that I won't need to buy gas again until the weekend.

My sister just made it back to college after the end of Fay...now she's in the line of Gustav in TX :( Poor thing.

I'm concerned for anyone in its path, and hope I don't land in it's wake.
I am supposed to land in Houston mid week, of all times to get scheduled for a job interview. I may miss a hurricane, but know there may be heavy rains to follow, and have been obsessively watching CNN, Weather channel, tracking the storm. I turned to the Law and Order marathon, just hoping the hurrixane will just head out to sea and stay there, knowing that isn't going to happen.

I just missed the last big hurricane to hit Hawaii, being on one of the last flights allowed out, got home, took a nap, woke up to see news reports of the damage and just thought OMG.

You just missed 'Iniki? That was a horrible time. Our house had some damage, but nothing like what those on Kauai went through. :(

We've been lucky to dodge some bullets since.