Gerry Caron wrote:
It's been hard to avoid the Hurricane Katrina coverage...

Certainly has been a lot of hype. What worries me is the language the
NWS forecasters are using. Here's the forecast discussion out of New
Orleans. I've never seen any of the forecasters who write these use the
terminology that's below: destiny/urgency/worst case hurrican scenario.
The kicker was the last paragraph, though.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
452 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005

..UPDATE...TO ADD TORNADO WATCH #752.

..DISCUSSION...
SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA SEEMS POISED FOR A DATE WITH DESTINY AS
CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO KEEP A BEAD ON BARATARIA
BAY AND THE GREATER NEW ORLEANS AREA. THE GFS MODEL CONTINUES TO
BE SUPERIOR IN ITS HANDLING OF THE SYSTEM INASMUCH AS TO BASE THE
CONVENTIONAL FORECAST PARAMETERS WITH GOOD INTEGRITY AND IN
AGREEMENT WITH NHC ADVISORIES.

NEEDLESS TO SAY...THE WORST CAN BE ANTICIPATED AND URGENCY IS
BEING STRESSED IN ALL PRODUCTS AS A WORST CASE HURRICANE SCENARIO
FOR THIS VERY FRAGILE AND VULNERABLE STRETCH OF U.S. COASTLINE.
THE EYE IS EMERGING ON THE KLIX LONG RANGE LOOP AND BANDS ARE
EXTENDING TO LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN AT THIS TIME. THINGS WILL BE
DETIORATING STEADILY FROM THIS POINT FORWARD FOR THE NEXT 24
HOURS.

WILL MAINTAIN ALL WARNINGS AS ALREADY POSTED AS WELL AS THE FLASH
FLOOD WATCH. STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ADVISED THAT THE FIRST
TORNADO WATCH OF THE EVENT WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED FOR THE REGION
EARLY THIS EVENING...PROBABLY RIGHT AFTER SUNSET.

MOST ATTENTION WITH THIS PACKAGE WAS DAY 1-2 WITH LITTLE IF ANY
CHANGES MADE BEYOND DAY 3. GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED TO ALL IN THE
PATH OF THIS STORM.