He is a tenacious rascal and he is going down fighting. Radar loops this morning seem to indicate that the remaining center of Gustav had edged into the SE corner of Oklahoma. It seems to me, and this is not official, that he has nearly stalled or possibly edged back eastward into the SW edge of Arkansas.
Had several questions yesterday on how he could still be producing so much rain that far inland. The storm total so far in Louisiana is an incredible 16.37 inches near Bunkie.
The reason he can still produce so much rain is because he still has such a broad circulation that continues to pull spiral bands out of the NW Gulf of Mexico curving up through Louisiana and Western Mississippi and then NW across Arkansas. It is still pouring this morning over South and East Louisiana, much of Western Mississippi and a lot of Arkansas and even into Missouri.
In other words, Gustav is still maintaining a long moisture convoy.
AT 8:00 this morning, a report out of Casa, Arkansas indicated that water was over roads all across Perry County. This area is in West/Central Arkansas some 50 air miles NW of Little Rock.
The famous QPF chart indicates a possible 5.77 inches of rain in places like Jefferson City and Joplin, Missouri and nearly 4 inches over Western Mississippi. By Thursday, it projects 4.54 across Northern Illinois and very heay rain into Western Lower Michigan.
HOUSEKEEPING NOTES
Since Hanna is the tropical story that has the nearest impact to the USA, we will try to post every one of her advisories for the rest of today, including a track forecast map. Later this morning, I will also post a weather by the numbers. I love numbers and statistics and I have refrained from doing one lately because of much more important information, but I can hold off no longer.
