Hurricane Ike Slams Cuba; Gulf Coast Warily Watches and Waits

Hurricane Ike is slowly grinding through Cuba, dropping massive amounts of rain and causing widespread damage. More than a million people were evacuated from the coast and low lying areas, but the entire island is taking a fearsome pounding from what is now a category one storm.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Florida Keys from Ocean Reef southward to the Dry Tortugas, including Florida Bay. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within the next 24 hours.

A tropical storm watch remains in effect for Grand Cayman.

Interests in south Florida should continue to monitor the progress of Ike.

At 7 p.m. the center of Hurricane Ike was located just offshore of the south coast of central Cuba near latitude 21.7 north, longitude 80.2 west, about 35 miles south-southeast of Cienfuegos, Cuba and about 165 miles east-southeast of Havana, Cuba.

Ike is moving toward the west-northwest around 12 mph and this general motion is expected to continue for the next day or two. On this track, the center of hurricane Ike is expected to move along or just south of the southern coast of central Cuba tonight, move over western Cuba Tuesday, and emerge into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday night.

The storm is expected to continue to weaken as it passes over Cuba, but expect it to regain its strength once it enters the Gulf of Mexico.

This storm has been quite destructive, killing at least 312 people in Haiti and the Bahamas.

Right now, the storm tracks have it hitting somewhere along the Texas to Louisiana coastline. Right now, the models are all over the map - mostly focusing on the Texas coast, but there are a few outliers that have the track go South into Mexico or North into Florida. The GFDL track has the storm hit near the Texas town of Rockport. The NHC plot is to the North, striking near Bay City.