Tue 26 Aug 2008
Gustav is now a Category 1 hurricane and it is expected to get to category 2 very soon. It will probably strike Haiti today. Unfortunately Gustav is turning west towards Jamaica. After Jamaica are the Cayman Islands … Current projections put the storm over 100 miles north of Grand Cayman. Its not all that bad, but not great either. For those not familiar with hurricanes, the “eye” of the storm (aka : the center) is the most dangerous part since that where the strongest winds are. So when a storm passes 100 miles away, it means that the eye is 100 miles away ; the further the better. At 100 miles away, the storm would probably only give us lots of rain and some minor damage such as knocked over trees, roofing damage to older homes, etc. Thats only the projection though ; where it will really end up is anyones guess.
The only “good” thing about a hurricane is that unlike an earthquake (for example), you have time to prepare. If current projections are accurate, the storm should be here late Thursday or early friday.
Here is the current projected path!
Last night I started to look at my hurricane supplies and think of what I may need to do for the house & pets. Under a category 2, I might have stayed at home, but if its a 2 or more as it looks like, I will be definitely taking our important stuff and the pets to the office. For the 1st time this week I am actually glad that Julie is off island visiting family for a while.
Stay tuned. I will be making frequent updates as this unfolds. Lets hope the forecasts are wrong.

Thanks for keeping us updated. We are supposed to be flying in Saturday for a week long stay on the North side. Hopefully the projections are wrong, but if they aren’t we may not make it out at all. I will keep checking back!
jen
Hi Jen,
Thanks for your post! Lets indeed hope they are wrong and that it passes a safe distance away.
Thanks for the information Micho, My wife and I were also coming down for a week starting this Saturday and we’re still hoping for the best. Fingers crossed!
Chad
Hi Micho!
Looks like you’ll have a lot of helpers if something does happen – we’re supposed to fly in on Friday!!
Keeping our fingers crossed that this system just fizzles and nobody gets more than a few raindrops!
Good luck!