August 2008 is month 36 since Katrina. Three years. Over 1,000 days since 8/29/5 and what has changed? Its been nearly 300 years since Bienville chose to occupy this spot. That's more than 100,000 days and much has changed.

Of course, much remains the same. Mother Nature remains as fierce as ever. As August 2008 got underway, tropical storm Edouard formed due south of the mouth of the river and churned westward, away from New Orleans, reminiscent of Rita. Then on August 20th Fay came ashore in Florida as a tropical storm. After churning across that state from south to north it came back and crossed Florida again from east to west soaking the entire Southeast in the process and giving New Orleans another storm alert. Hardly a day later, Gustav formed south of Haiti and the National Weather Service forecast a track into the center of the Gulf by Labor Day weekend.


The naval labs website shows two warm water loops active in the Gulf and a third forming in the Yucatan straights. These currents while providing no steering input to storms are a ready source of energy needed for storms to intensify.

The track below shows Fay as she zigzagged across Florida before wetting New Orleans then staggering off across Mississippi.