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(CNN)Each time I see a storm rapidly intensify in the Gulf of Mexico, my stomach churns.
I'm Jennifer Gray and I've been a meteorologist for 18 years and it doesn't get any easier to watch.
Louisiana is my home.
My family, close friends and a lifetime of memories flood my mind each time this happens. Covering storms is serious business for me. I'm hoping to communicate clearly, with the proper urgency the storm warrants, and no matter where the storm hits, I'm constantly thinking about the families impacted.
Like the one million people who have lost power or those first responders who are struggling to reach the hardest-hit areas
But when the storm is bearing down on your family, your childhood friends, the home in New Orleans where I visited my grandmother growing up, it tugs on my heart even more.
The moment I get off the air, I'm answering texts from friends who are asking me what they should do. I'm facetiming with my best friend from college who is worried about a particular tree falling on her home.
But I'm telling them the exact same thing I'm telling the viewers. There's no top-secret insider baseball when it comes to hurricanes.
There's one forecast, a million possibilities and staying safe is the top priority.
On the ground in Houma
As many of you know who have been keeping up with us this weekend, my colleague Derek Van Dam experienced it this weekend. He rode out Ida in the town of Houma, where the majority of the residents evacuated. He was their eyes on the ground.
People watching from hotel rooms miles away were able to see what their town was experiencing -- seeing what they will be returning to.
An image from Derek of downtown Houma Monday.
"Nearly every building in downtown Houma has suffered some sort of damage," CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam sends me in a text from the field.
"Complicating the issue for residents is the lack of power and cellular networks. It's devastating to see people who are trying to get in touch with family or friends and aren't able to. They just want to know everyone is OK."
Derek goes on to tell me that the storm has taken a toll on him and his crew. They know this is important work, being the eyes on the ground for so many residents who are evacuated. "The sun is out and it's heating up fast. It's going to be a difficult recovery effort without any options to cool off."
The reality is that power could be out for weeks. Trying to clean up and rebuild in the hot Louisiana sun is going to only make for more challenges in the days ahead.
Here is some of the latest from the ground in other parts of Louisiana
Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Theophilus Charles, 70, sits inside his damaged home in Houma, Louisiana, on Monday, August 30.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Residents wave at a US Coast Guard helicopter while waiting to be rescued from their flooded home in LaPlace, Louisiana, on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
The highway is flooded near LaPlace on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Residents are rescued from floodwaters in LaPlace on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A damaged historic building lays in ruin in the Central Business District of New Orleans on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A destroyed car is seen Monday after an apartment building burned overnight in Kenner, Louisiana.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A resident walks through floodwaters in LaPlace on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Siblings watch men assess damage outside of a hotel Monday in Houma.
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A woman pushes a stroller past a boarded up building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A downed tree lies on a house in New Orleans on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Jeremy Hodges, left, and his brother Jacob work to clear debris from their destroyed storage unit in Houma on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Members of the Louisiana National Guard help with recovery efforts in New Orleans on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A man looks up next to a section of roof that was ripped off a building in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Monday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Streets are flooded Monday in Kenner.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Lights from a TV broadcast illuminate an otherwise dark Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Monday. More than 1 million customers in Louisiana were without power Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.US -- including all of New Orleans.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Montegut Fire Chief Toby Henry walks back to his fire truck in the rain as firefighters cut through trees on the road in Bourg, Louisiana, on Sunday, August 29.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Firefighters cut through downed trees on a road in Bourg on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Barges are seen docked on the Mississippi River as Hurricane Ida hits Destrehan, Louisiana, on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
People walk through the French Quarter in New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet took this photo of Hurricane Ida on Sunday from the International Space Station.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
The Royal Dutch Shell refinery in Norco, Louisiana, is seen as Hurricane Ida makes landfall Sunday. More than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production facilities have been shut down, regulators said, indicating the storm's significant impact on energy supply.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
People work inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency's headquarters in Washington, DC, on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A cyclist wears a face mask while biking through the rain and high winds on Canal Street in New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Firefighters look out the window of a shelter in Bourg on Sunday as the storm passes.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Storm clouds pass over a cemetery in New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
LaKeisha Verdin holds her 3-month-old son, Kevin, as she walks onto the front porch where her family was watching weather updates on the local news Sunday in Houma.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A news crew reports from the edge of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Wind blows Monroe Best's hair and face mask Sunday in New Orleans.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Bourbon Street in New Orleans is nearly empty on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A vehicle is abandoned in a flooded ditch next to the highway Sunday in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A man carrying his belongings walks past a sign outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A wall of rain moves over downtown New Orleans on Sunday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
The Boudreaux family sits on their front porch Sunday as they await the arrival of Hurricane Ida.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A man walks along the Mississippi River near the French Quarter in New Orleans early Sunday.
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People stand in line at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Saturday, August 28. Many residents were evacuating the area ahead of Hurricane Ida.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Crews reopen a flood gate to help trapped motorists who missed a closure deadline on Saturday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Keith Clark brings a rope to a friend to help tie down a houseboat before he evacuates Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, on Saturday.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Nikeia Washington from Vacherie, Louisiana, holds her granddaughter, Halia Zenon, at a hotel in downtown Shreveport, Louisiana, where they evacuated to ahead of the storm.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
People walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Saturday. Evacuation was voluntary for parts of the city inside its flood protection system. Other areas were under a mandatory evacuation order.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Larry Ackman, bottom, helps neighbor Mike Jackson, left, and his son Cody board up windows Saturday in Morgan City, Louisiana.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Traffic moves slowly along I-10 West on Saturday in Vinton, Louisiana, as residents evacuate toward Texas.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
A man drives a tractor through a flooded street Saturday in Guanimar, Cuba. Before entering the Gulf, Ida made landfall twice over Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
President Joe Biden speaks during a FEMA briefing on Hurricane Ida on Saturday. "This weekend is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina," Biden said, "and it's a stark reminder that we have to do everything we can to prepare the people in the region to make sure we're ready to respond."
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Dawn breaks over a Hurricane Katrina memorial at Shell Beach in St. Bernard, Louisiana, on Saturday. Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Clare and Joe Cermak work on putting storm shutters up on their home in Louisiana's St. Charles Parish on Saturday.
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Highway traffic moves slowly overnight Saturday near Kenner, Louisiana, as many residents evacuate ahead of Hurricane Ida.
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Gregory Moore, left, helps fill sand bags as residents in Gulfport, Mississippi, prepare for the storm on Saturday.
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John Guenther unloads about 400 crab traps that he had to pull out of the water and move via flatbed trailer to dry near his home in the eastern St. Bernard Parish on Friday, August 27.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Jennifer Tate fuels up a gas can Friday in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
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Photos: Hurricane Ida devastates Gulf Coast
Workers stack bags of ice into a gas station freezer on Friday in Jefferson, Louisiana.
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A resident hammers the shutters of a 100-year-old house in New Orleans on Friday.
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- New Orleans residents should be prepared to be in the dark for "weeks," city councilman says.
- "We've just been through a horrendous night," Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish president says.
- New Orleans resident says neighbor saved her house from a falling tree.
- These neighbors in New Orleans sheltered in place during the storm. Here's what they said it was like.
Human-caused climate change made Ida worse
Ida is another real-life example of how climate change is worsening the impacts from hurricanes. "Fueled by warmer than normal Gulf of Mexico waters, Ida made it back-to-back years the state has dealt with 150mph, high-end hurricanes," said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.
This is something no state has ever experienced before.
"Scientists have noted several ways that hurricanes are changing, and their impacts are getting worse, thanks to human-caused climate change. Hurricane Ida checks all the boxes," Miller said.
- Stronger: More storms are reaching major strength (category 3-5).
- Slower: Storms are moving slower, especially after landfall.
- Wetter: Storms are producing more rainfall, and extreme rainfall rates.
- Higher seas = higher surge: Sea level rise has raised the water levels along the coastline, making storm surge even higher.
The winds with hurricane Ida were remarkable
Remarkable in a sense that it was so wild to see winds stay as strong as they did for so long. Ida remained a major storm for NINE hours after making landfall.
Most of the time these wind gauges break before we can get readings above 130-140 mph.
Yesterday, a ship at Port Fourchon clocked a wind speed of 149 mph, with a gust of 172 mph.
Other wind reports we received:
- New Orleans International Airport: 90 mph gust
- Raceland, LA: 99 mph gust
- Galliano, LA: 98 mph gust
- near Dulac, LA: 89 mph wind, with gust of 138 mph
Where will Ida go from here?
Ida is still on the move and still has the potential to cause damage and major flooding as it continues its journey northward. Ida should weaken to a tropical depression today, and head through Tennessee tomorrow and off the mid-Atlantic coast by Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center is expecting Ida to pick up some forward speed today.
Ida still carries winds of 45 mph, with higher gusts, so as the storm churns to the north, there will be the strong possibility of more power outages. Along with this will be downed trees and power lines throughout more of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Ida will likely produce two to four inches of rain across much of the Tennessee River Valley and mid-Atlantic, with isolated amounts up to six inches.
Flash flooding will be the main threat with Ida as 50 million people are currently in flash flood watches stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast.
Tornadoes are also possible today for Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. As the storm moves north, the threat for tornadoes will shift north as well.
Middle Tennessee is clawing its way out of devastation from recent flooding. Now it sits right in Ida's crosshairs
The NHC forecasts for Hurricane Ida were accurate, CNN analysis shows
Our team of meteorologists analyzed every official forecast for Hurricane Ida from the National Hurricane Center. Our results show that the center's forecasts for the storm were significantly better than average.
All forecasts showed the storm making a landfall in south-central to southeastern Louisiana from the beginning.
Forecast tracks for the storm began Thursday morning, more than 72 hours in advance of the eventual landfall of the storm.
A total of 14 forecasts tracks were put out by the NHC between Thursday and Sunday morning. All of them showed landfall less than 50 miles from the actual landfall location of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.
The first track issued showed the greatest error in distance, showing landfall about 45 miles west of Port Fourchon.
The average track error from the NHC at 72-hours lead-time is 96 miles, meaning the forecast showed less than half of the average error for a three-day tropical cyclone forecast.
The 48-hour forecast was also nearly half the average error, showing a landfall roughly 35 miles from Port Fourchon (the average error at 48 hours is 65 miles).
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