Powerful Hurricane Gustav heading for Louisiana

Hurricane Gustav has been explosively intensifying in the Caribbean Sea south of Cuba, attaining category 4 status this afternoon from a tropical storm only 24 hours prior.  TVN storm chasers will be intercepting Gustav along the South Louisiana coast on Tuesday, and will be streaming live video to TornadoVideos.net.  Dr. Wurman will be chasing with his mobile doppler radar collecting invaluable data on one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S.  The National Hurricane Center measured maximum sustained winds of 150 mph in the eyewall of Gustav, with higher gusts.  The minimum central pressure is 942 mb (1020 mb is the average sea level pressure on a calm day), but could still drop another 40-50 mb as strengthening continues.  This means that Hurricane Gustav has not even come close to reaching its maximum strength, and conditions over the Gulf of Mexico are very favorable for continued strengthening.