Ike approaches

The latest forecast for Hurricane Ike is discussed in an interesting note at
Jeff Master's blog. He notes that the storm is very much stronger than the indicated intensity of 2, due to its vast size. The storm surge will rival that of Carla.

He notes that a good measure of the total strength of a hurricane is its Integrated Kinetic Energy (IKE!). For Ike, this is around 149 Terajoules. For comparison, Katrina was rated at 122 Terajoules.

Sadly, I've seen several news reports about people refusing to leave Galveston Island and other low-lying areas. They face almost certain death. In fact, the police are asking them to put identifying marks on themselves, so they can be more easily identified when they are found. I can't believe it.

Time to get back to work!

Tom