The 2009 tropical season is not over, and Ida is evidence of that. Hurricane season runs through the end of November, but of course as we have seen in seasons past, mother nature doesn't always conform to the parameters we have given her from June 1st to November 30th. Ida developed off of the Central American coast in the Caribbean Sea and intensified to category 1 hurricane status with winds of 75 mph. The system has been affecting Nicaragua and Honduras, which will see the brunt of the this storm as it makes landfall in Nicaragua and it's forecast track takes it over Honduras. Flooding and mudslides are a big concern with the mountainous terrain in the region with winds making an impact as well.
Beyond Ida's first impact with land, there is greater uncertainty as to not only forecast track but intensity. Certain weakening will occur as Ida traverses Central America and if she makes it will she be able to pull herself back together? The National Hurricane Center's official forecast does bring Ida back into the Caribbean with a widening forecast track and a re-intensifying tropical depression Ida to a tropical storm. The end of the 5-day forecast period shows the track uncertainty ranges from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico on the west, to the central Gulf of Mexico, to the Isle of Youth (Isla de Pinos or Isla de Juventud) on the east. The center of the forecast track would take Ida close to or through the Yucatan Channel (between Mexico and Cuba) and into the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday.
Beyond that point is even more of a guess with model guidance all over the place, but one trend that does seem to stick is that they want to keep Ida alive, so she may not be going away anytime soon if that's the case. Everyone along the gulf coast and in the Sunshine State should keep any eye on Ida and monitor her moves over the weekend. While a landfalling Florida hurricane in November is uncommon, it has happened before. The upper level pattern this time of year would tend to keep these systems heading off to the east or northeast, but this year we have been lacking a deep upper level trough along the east coast to allow these more typical steering winds to push as far south (our hot and dry October was related to this).
I have 2 very good links for you, one of them being the National Hurricane Center's website where you can get all of the latest info on Ida http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?5-daynl#contents
And this link has tropical storm and hurricane climatology for Florida in November, which tells you about the history and what typical storm paths are http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/mfl/news/November_SoFLTC.pdf
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