Gustav Makes Landfall!

From the KRBC Weather Lab, this is meteorologist Stephanie Malone with your weather update...

Hurricane Gustav made landfall this morning near Cocodrie, Louisiana at 10:00 a.m. Gustav is now about 15 miles north of Lafayette, Louisiana as a category 1 hurricane. It has sustained winds of 81 miles per hour and is moving northwest at 16 miles per hour. Gustav is a very large hurricane with hurricane strength winds extending out as far as 50 miles. Gustav will leave 6 to 12 inches of rain in most places it effects, but is capable of dumping up to 20 inches of rain in some places.

Hurricane Gustav is expected to continue on it's northwesterly path, crossing into Texas by tomorrow. It is supposed to stall out over the North Texas area over the DFW metroplex. This means that we could see a rain band or two make it to the easterly counties of the Big Country, but nothing too substantial.

Also, Hanna is now a category 1 hurricane. It is moving southwest, putting the Bahamas under a hurricane watch. And in other news in the tropics, the ninth tropical storm has developed of the season. It is tropical storm Ike, and is currently in the Tropical Atlantic.

At home, we could be seeing some showers in the eastern counties as early as Tuesday evening, but it is still a slight chance of seeing these storms.

Then on Wednesday, Gustav will push a cool front into the area, putting our highs in the mid to upper 80's. We will also be seeing a change in wind direction to a northerly flow. Also, there is a possibility for showers to trigger along the cool front as it pushes through.

That is your weather update, thank you for logging into http://www.bigcountryhomepage.com/, and as always, don't forget to tune into KRBC for your local weather updates. Everyone have a great Labor Day holiday!