Ike Makes Final Approach
Hurricane Ike increases to 110 mph at 7 PM ET and will make landfall overnight. Despite the wind speeds being that of a high end Category 2 that may be a Category 3 when all is said and done, the size of the storm will help push enough water up into the bays and against the Gulf Coast to lead to a Category 4 type surge later tonight (see the SLOSH modeling up above). This surge will cover much, if not ALL, of Galveston Island...not a good situation since there are between 15,000 and 20,000 people (depending on the report) on the island tonight riding out the storm.
Ike has gotten much better organized over the day and has a more well-defined eye than earlier today. Ike is coming in near the anniversary of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which made landfall on September 8th, 1900. This hurricane killed 6,000 people and was responsible for the construction of the Galveston seawall. Ike's track is somewhat similar to that of the 1900 storm although the 1900 storm was stronger in terms of pressure and wind speed. The wind speed in itself will not matter due to the size of the storm as the impacts will be felt over a wide part of Southeast Texas later tonight and Saturday.In parts of the Southeast, gas prices have spiked significantly in response to Hurricane Ike's approach. Houston has about a decent percentage of the American oil refineries and services gasoline supplies for much of the Midwest and South Central US. Most of our oil comes from refineries in our area, whether they be the Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia or the refineries in New Jersey so direct impacts to our gasoline supply should be limited. However, a lengthy shutdown in refineries in Houston could possibly lead to higher gas prices in the US as gas supplies get shuffled around the country. Some good discussion on the impacts of Ike on the Houston area refineries and gasoline supplies in the South and Midwest can be found at The Oil Drum. Gas prices around the country can be monitored at gasbuddy.com.
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