Hog Heaven For Now...Katrina Looms

Thousands of bikers are in the area for the Harley Owners Group rally this weekend. And right now it looks like Hog Heaven as far as the weather goes. Yesterday bikers flocked to area attractions like Rock City, Ruby Falls, and The Incline. (As pictured here.)
The only way this could be better for bikers is if it was October.
I went up to the top of The Incline yesterday and it was a typically hazy August view. Imagine how much more enjoyable the riding would be on a warm, sunny, crystal clear October day.
But any riders that came here from the south better be keeping an eye on the sky. Hurricane "Katrina" did not lose much punch after moving over the Everglades last night. This morning three things say uh-oh. First the storm is crawling westward, rather than following the official NHC northward path laid out yesterday. Second, yesterday the Hurricane Center thought it would be a tropical storm for a day or so before re-gaining hurricane status. As of 5 am it's already back to a 75 mph hurricane. And third the latest forecast models a turning this into a monster. It's interesting to me because one model, (the Canadian) a couple of days ago had a monster of a storm moving into the western Florida panhandle. And it was discounted because it was the only model doing so. And this morning the model that was the farthest east at that same time, (the GFS) is cranking out a monster hurricane that looks every bit as ugly as "Ivan" or "Opal" with a similar path. If this ends up being the case, we'll have some weather problems to deal with late Sunday night through early Tuesday. Stay tuned to Channel 3 Eyewitness News throughout the weekend as we track Hurricane "Katrina".