The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center at NOAA has shifted the predicted track of Tropical Storm Isaac further to the west, putting it on line to pass right over New Orleans.  Of course, this could still change before Isaac makes landfall, predicted for sometime tomorrow evening.  Maximum sustained winds are currently 70 miles per hour, but Isaac is predicted to reach hurricane strength tonight or tomorrow morning.

Here’s a map using the latest forecast track (from Advisory #27, issued at 4pm Central time today).  As with yesterday’s maps, the likely path of the center of the storm is shown as a black line; the “cone of uncertainty” for the storm track is shown in purple, and offshore oil and gas platforms and pipelines are orange dots and lines: