Time to Worry about Gustav

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[Tropical Storm Gustav coming off Haiti and reorganizing.]

It has been almost three full years since a major hurricane hit the United States. The last one was 2005's Wilma.

We aren't really used to this any more. 2004 and 2005 are slipping deeper and deeper into our memories...but they shouldn't.

Now, unfortunately, the current Tropical Storm Gustav may remind us of what it's like. The storm has got a whole lot of hot water ahead of it, and a track that looks pretty certain to bring it straight into the Gulf of Mexico. After that, who knows precisely where landfall will occur, but as Jeff Masters puts it: "Gustav will likely be a major Category 3 or 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, and make landfall in the U.S. as a major hurricane."

Get ready.

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And just as a reminder, a slow moving tropical storm like Fay can do a lot of damage without becoming a hurricane. The news reports show Gustav moving slowly across Haiti.