Hurricane Dean has turned more westerly

La Ceiba, Honduras, is indicated by a black dot to the southeast of Dean.

Now I'm starting to be more afraid. Hurricane Dean, which was predicted to hit the Yucatan and the northern part of Belize has turned from its northwesterly trajectory to a more westerly direction. It is predicted to reach category 5 (the highest) level as it passes to the north of Honduras. It appears that Belize will be hit straight on.

Photo about 1 p.m. Monday.

We have been watching the weather sites and Dean is HUGE! At one point, the satellite showed the outer extremities touching Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the southern part of Cuba and Honduras all at the same time! This is from the latest NOAA Hurricane Advisory:

DEAN IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE STORM TOTAL RAINFALL OF 5 TO 10 INCHES OVER THE YUCATAN PENINSULA...BELIZE...GUATEMALA...AND NORTHERN HONDURAS...WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF UP TO 20 INCHES. THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES.

Photo about 1:30 p.m, Monday. The most surprising thing about hurricanes to me is how slow they move across the ocean.

We are currently (3 p.m. Monday) experiencing very heavy rains, lots of thunder, but not much wind.

The power has already blipped off once, so I wouldn't be surprised if we will be without power (and internet connection) at least part of the day or night. So if you don't hear from me, it doesn't necessarily mean that we are in the hurricane.

I'll update this article later, if I am able to.


Update 10:00 p.m.: All is calm and quiet. The rain has stopped. We have power. We have electricity. It seems we are going to be lucky tonight.