One hell of a day for storms at sea. Just after noon today, Isaac was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it slowly moved north in the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, on a track disturbingly similar to that taken by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, which came ashore as Category 3 hurricane.

In the Pacific, Typhoon Bolaven is pounding the Korean peninsula.  Five Chinese crew are confirmed drowned and twelve are still missing from two Chinese fishing vessels off Jeju Island, near the southern tip of the South Korean mainland.

South Korea typhoon kills Chinese fishermen

Thanks to Phil Leon for contributing to this post.