NHC 10 p.m. Katrina advisory

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on August 28, 2005 at 10:00 PM, updated July 06, 2010 at 1:53 PM

At 10 p.m., the National Hurricane center shifted Katrina's path a slight bit east and says it may have lost a little bit of strength. However, they're officially saying it's still at 160 mph, a Category 5.

The storm is apparently going through an eyewall replacement cycle, with the inner wall with highest winds beginning to erode and being replaced by a new, wider wall.

The good news is that that could mean the top windspeeds could be only Category 4 at landfall. The bad news is that the new eye will be wider, expanding the area affected by hurricane-force and highest winds.

However, they're still estimating 156 mph winds in 12 hours as the storm reaches the coast. That puts landfall at about 10 a.m., but hurricane-force winds will occur in a few hours.

This change probably won't make much difference in terms of surge for south Louisiana, though it could expand the high water area east towards Mobile.