Hurricane Watch

Ernesto begins, Ioke impresses

As of early Saturday morning, tropical storm Ernesto may become a hurricane that threatens the Gulf Coast by early next week--or (as it stands at the moment) it may not. According to Weather Underground, the various prediction models disagree on the effect of some complex wind effects. Some models predict it will intensify to hurricane status, others that it will dissipate. More should be known by Sunday, but for now the Gulf from the Florida Keys to Texas should be on the alert.

Meanwhile, there is a huge category 5 hurricane called Ioke--but it's in the Pacific, the first recorded hurricane in the Pacific Ocean since 2002, and it's not threatening any land areas. But it is fierce, with exceptionally low pressure.