Lili leashed

Gulf Storms | Hurricane that menaced U.S. coastline weakened before lashing Louisiana; second storm in less than a week still packs punch

As Hurricane Lili roared toward the mainland, Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster declared the then-Category 4 storm "the real deal." Gov. Foster said he was "hoping for some divine intervention."

Looks like he got it.

Before Lili could blast ashore, the storm encountered too-dry air out of the west and too-cool water near the coastline, where, incidentally, the hottest Louisiana red-pepper sauce is made (Tabasco is bottled on Avery Island in New Iberia parish). That—among a combination of other factors still unknown—bumped Lili down to a Category 2 hurricane, still dangerous but drastically less powerful than officials expected.

"A lot of Ph.D. [dissertations] will be written about this" storm's rapid loss of strength, said Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.