Is Hurricane Ike an anomaly?

http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_17152.html?from=hp_news

It appears that Hurricane Ike has a mind of his own, and insists on maintaining a westward track in defiance of all other storms which preceeded.

What could be the reason?

Perhaps global warming has increased the water temp. in the Gulf, giving it more energy to maintain its course?

Normally hurricanes in that region are carried generally westward but gradually creep northward until they approach theeast winds around the 30th parallel and then veer sharply to the northeast.

It appears that hurricanes are steered, though perhaps not exclusively, by high pressure and low pressure weather systems.

http://www.applet-magic.com/hurricane.htm

There are also physical forces that tend to steer a west bound hurricane to the north and then back to the east.

And in the Atlantic the so-called trade winds blow to the west in the tropics and as the hurricane is steered northward (see above link) it encounters the prevailing winds from west to east at about the 30th parallel.

So they tend to make a u-turn in effect.

I believe Ike has made the turn:

http://american-press.net/wpStorm/

Well if the projected path is accurate he will come right up the Ohio Valley. If so he might not dissipate as fast as he would in the mountains.

So we might get some wind as well as water.