<img align=right width=254 height=275 hspace=8 vspace=8 src="//AmbergrisCaye.com/art/keith/10-1-1asm.gif">Keith makes Cat 4 with 120 miles an hour sustained. Well, estimated.
Believe it or not, an Air Force load of flyin' fools is going in there
to inspect this storm, in the middle of the night.

The National Hurricane Center is now consistently admitting Keith is
edging westward. He's located, according to subscriber Jorge Varela
and precision plotter/engineer John Greif, Sr., well, three hours ago,
55 miles east and ten miles north of San Pedro Town proper. The eye
goes through the north island. Hurricanes are not supposed to do this.
They're supposed to turn north and let us jeer at them from the beach.
Keith does not know this. Keith does not care. Keith is your 800 pound
gorilla of tropical cyclones. If he weren't so near land, his name
would be Son of a Mitch. Hurricane Mitch, '98, beachwrecker even
though he missed Belize by 200 miles.

Keith's center is 65 miles east-southeast of Chetumal, Mexico as of
midnight CST. That's more or less, 40 miles east-northeast of us, by
my
rough calculation which agrees with the Greif-Varela Precision
Stormplot, received while typing this -- er, depending on what part of
this island you're cringing on. Keith's hurricane force winds extend
out up to 35 miles from his center. Yeah, I'd say so, might even bid
40. Bit brisk hereabouts.

Central pressure is down to 28.20 inches, amazing weather sages
worldwide. A 0.15-inch drop in three hours.
Lower pressure, more strengthening.

The satellite shot shows him forming a second wall outside the
eyewall, in which we are basking right now. That takes real
determination and organization on a storm's part, really remarkable
this close to land, as is the strengthening, the pressure drop, the
whole thing. A real phenomenon is old Keith.

He's expected to continue westering, slowly, and strengthening, to
turn northward some time Sunday.

Hey, Keith, it's Sunday - - -
http://www.intellicast.com/Tropical/World/UnitedStates/CaribbeanLoop/

The six-to-eight-foot-tide forecast holds constant. I think the strong
winds
from the west are really helping us here. Varela, who was once in the
Air
Force and has the spirit, walked along the beach not long ago and said
the tides aren't far above mean high-tide mark, and all the piers he
saw still look sound. And he had to lean 'way over to keep from being
blown flat. Greif is Army Air Corps, too. Me ground-pounder, missing
foxhole right about now.

By the way, I can't believe the electricity and the phone lines are
still working. Couple of electrical power hiccups earlier when it was
milder. Anyway, with the comfort of this service during these
conditions, I may not complain again for hours.

And everyone will be happy to know Tropical Storm Joyce's maximum
sustained winds are only 45 miles an hour at this time.

John Lankford

[This message has been edited by Marty (edited 10-01-2000).]