Bad News For Democrats, Gustav Weaker Than Expected (Or Hoped)?

The satellite image at left shows that Gustav is interacting with an upper level trough to its west. The trough contains dry air (the darkest regions of the image) and this trough was feeding that dry air into the storm's southern and eastern quadrant and was inhibiting its development as it moved over the loop current. Note the asymmetry in Gustav's convection in the next image, which was taken at about the same time. Convection if stunted in all but the southwestern quadrant. There are some very prominent Democrats who will find this very disappointing. The Weather Channel, whose quest for ratings and advertising revenue encourages hyping hurricanes is still holding out hope for a category 4 at landfall.