(sorry, rant approaching)

It's tough to think about the fact that Ike will indeed make landfall somewhere on the Gulf coast. Tougher still since it seems to be aimed directly at New Orleans... It doesn't look like it will come anywhere close to Tampa. Which is somewhat unfortunate. Of course a direct hit from this storm in Tampa Bay would probably kill hundreds of people, and disable the entire west-central portion of the state...
But we need the rain!!!! aaahhhh!!!! FAY, GUSTAV, and HANNA all passed us without hardly a drop, and instead left us in the hot and dry vacuum of their wakes. It has not substantially rained here in about 3 weeks now. I'll take some outer bands. Tropical storm force winds don't bother me. Even as some of our fellows on the east coast are still underwater, here we are bone dry. Please rain. Ike, got maybe a foot of rain for us?

Almost anywhere Ike goes in the Gulf should mean rain for Tampa. You'll be on the east side of the storm this time and may get lots of rain. Sorry to say though, that as of this morning it looks like Ike is moving further west and that may limit your rainfall totals.