Hurricane Gustav has once again become a hurricane Friday afternoon. Then it went through rapid intensification overnight Friday and into Saturday to become a dangerous category 4 hurricane.  The projected path of Gustav is toward the northwest. It is expected to slam into the southwestern coast of Cuba later tonight as a category 4/5 hurricane. On Sunday morning Gustav emerged into the Gulf of Mexico  as a category 4 hurricane. The GFDL and HWRF forecast models send Gustav straight up the gulf and make landfall between Houston and New Orleans as a category 4 hurricane late Monday. A category 4 hurricane has winds of 131 to 155 mph. Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans in 2005 as a low-end category 3 hurricane.  If the projected path of Hurricane Gustav does in fact verify for the northern gulf coast target, parts of LA, MS, and AL could be in for some catastrophic damage.  The state of Louisiana has already established a hurricane evacuation plan that could begin Saturday.

Another potential problem with hurricane Gustav is that its projected path takes in directly into the oil fields in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This oil field accounts for at least one fifth of all U.S. oil production. Several rigs are evacuating personnel before Hurricane Gustav comes storming through. As hurricane Gustav strengthens more oil platforms will be evacuated. If hurricane Gustav disrupts production long enough, gasoline prices will rise in the U.S.  In 2004 and 2005, hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, and Rita all affected oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.  Some platforms suffered significant damage when the hurricanes moved through with winds of cat 3/4 strength.

Hurricane Gustav Projected Path: