"Hurricane Ike's winds remain at Category 2 strength, but Ike is a freak storm with extreme destructive storm surge potential. Ike's pressure fell rapidly last night to 944 mb, but the hurricane did not respond to the pressure change by increasing its maximum winds in the eyewall. Instead, Ike responded by increasing the velocity of its winds away from the eyewall, over a huge stretch of the Gulf of Mexico. Another very unusual feature of Ike is the fact that the surface winds are much slower than the winds being measured aloft by the Hurricane Hunters. Winds at the surface may only be at Category 1 strength, even though Ike has a central pressure characteristic of a Category 3 or 4 storm. This very unusual structure makes forecasting the future intensity of Ike nearly impossible. The possibilities range from a Category 1 storm at landfall--as predicted by the HWRF model--to a Category 4 storm at landfall, as predicted by the GFDL....[read more]"

• Weather Underground Tropical is our top selection for keeping current on hurricane and tropical storm activity.
• The Weather Underground is tracking Hurricane Ike with this nice map.
• The U.S. National Weather Service has a fascinating motion loop of a satellite of the Atlantic storms.
• The U.S. National Weather Service also has a stationary snapshot of the satellite overview of the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
• The front page of the United States National Hurricane Servicehas a quick look at the most important storm and hurricane activity in the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.