File:US Navy 050710-N-0000X-001 Satellite image of Hurricane Dennis taken from the GOES-12 satellite.jpg

English: Gulf of Mexico (July 10, 2005) - Satellite image of Hurricane Dennis taken from the GOES-12 satellite. The Category 4 hurricane, on the Saffir-Simpson rating scale, was located about 100 miles south of Pensacola, Fla., in the Gulf of Mexico, strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 storm, plowing toward a region still recovering from a hurricane 10 months ago. Landfall was expected late Sunday afternoon, during high-tide, somewhere between Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla. After weakening to a Category 1 storm over Cuba, Dennis strengthened in the Gulf on Saturday and became a Category 4 storm again early Sunday, with top sustained winds of 145 mph. Dennis would be the first Category 4 storm to hit Florida's Panhandle or Alabama. Hurricane-force winds stretched out up to 40 miles from Dennis' center, and they could go as far as 175 miles inland. A data buoy about 50 miles offshore recorded a 33-foot high wave in the Gulf. Blamed for at least 20 deaths in Haiti and Cuba, Dennis carries a threat of more than a foot of rain plus waves on top of storm surge up to 15 feet in the same area that was pummeled by Hurricane Ivan last September. At 9 a.m. EDT, Dennis' eye was about 125 miles south-southeast of Pensacola in the Panhandle and 175 miles southeast of Pascagoula, Miss. It was moving north at about 16 mph and expected to turn more to the northwest before landfall, forecasters said. U.S. Navy ships have been sortied out of Naval Station Pascagoula, with evacuation ordered for all but essential personnel from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., ordered Friday, July 8. The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Photo provided by Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Center (RELEASED) For more information visit <a href="https://weather.navy.mil" Target="_BLANK">https://weather.navy.mil</a>