A record number of consecutive hurricanes made landfall on the U.S. East Coast this year, making it one of the most active storm seasons ever, government meteorologists report today.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Sunday, delivered a total of 16 named storms, including six consecutive tropical cyclones — Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike — to the mainland. Eight were hurricanes, five of which were major storms of Category 3 strength or more, the National Hurricane Center says. (Category 3 storms carry winds of 111-to-130 miles, or 178-to-209 kilometers, per hour.)

Hurricane Paloma is increasing in intensity as it approaches the Cayman Islands, where the storm is expected to make landfall by late tonight or early tomorrow.

Paloma is a Category 1 hurricane with winds gusting near 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour. But it could strengthen to a “major” Category 2 storm later today, and possibly ratchet up to a Category 3 tempest by tomorrow, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Category 2 hurricanes bring winds of 96 to 100 miles (154 to 177 kilometers) per hour, and Category 3 storms carry winds of 111 to 130 miles (178 to 209 kilometers) per hour, per the Safir-Simpson scale.

Ay, Paloma!

An exotically named tropical storm is eyeing weather-weary Cuba and could strengthen to a hurricane by tomorrow, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of 10 a.m. Eastern time, Paloma was 75 miles (115 kilometers) Northeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border and about 265 miles (430 kilometers) south-southwest of Grand Cayman, the agency reported. Winds were gusting as fast as 45 miles (75 kilometers) per hour.

Paloma is expected to bring up to a foot of rain to the Cayman Islands, and two to four inches in Nicaragua. It could pass over Cuba and Jamaica by Sunday, and strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 miles (154 kilometers) per hour, Reuters reports.

China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft is in Earth orbit, carrying a three–astronaut crew, one of whom is expected to make that country's first spacewalk this weekend.

The rocket took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Ganzhou Province in Western China at 9:10 P.M. today (9:10 A.M. Eastern time), the country's third manned trip in the last five years. Its first manned mission was in 2003, and the second, two years later.

Although citizens of at least three-dozen nations have traveled into the cosmos on international missions, just three countries—the U.S., Russia and, in the last five years, China—have sent humans into space using their own spacecraft.

After making landfall at 3:10 a.m. this morning near Galveston as a Category 2 storm, Hurricane Ike's eye was just northeast of Conroe, Texas as of 8 a.m. CDT, according to the National Hurricane Center. With winds of 90 miles per hour (145 km/hr), it is now a Category 1 storm.

Overnight, Ike flooded Galveston's historic district and left all of Galveston County without power, the Galveston County Office of Emergency Management reported on its Web site. Four million people in Houston also lost power.

Officials have blamed Ike for three deaths. All 22 people aboard a Cypriot freighter that was caught in the storm off the coast of Texas were safe, however, according to the Coast Guard, which had earlier abandoned efforts to rescue the crew because of Ike.

It's going to be a long night for the people of coastal Texas.

As Hurricane Ike whips up the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on its way toward land, hurricane-force wind gusts have already been reported on Galveston Island, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, which as of 10 p.m. Central Daylight Time was about 55 miles southeast of Galveston, is expected to make landfall near the city sometime around between 2 and 3 a.m. CDT.

The storm's sustained winds of 110 miles per hour make it a Category 2 hurricane, but another mile per hour would put it into Category 3.

The storm could cause flood surges of up to 25 feet. Earlier today, meteorologists warned residents of Galveston -- much of which is surrounded by a 17-foot-seawall -- told that any who remained in one- or two-story homes would face certain death. The Coast Guard abandoned efforts to rescue 22 crew members on the Cypriot freighter Antalina, about 90 miles off the coast of Galveston.

Hurricane Ike continued its path of destruction Sunday afternoon in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, as Cuba scrambled to evacuate residents of the eastern part of the country that the Category 4 hurricane is likely to slam into later today and tonight. The storm may weaken over Cuba, although it will likely remain a hurricane and will gain strength as it leaves the island nation and travels over the Gulf, Reuters reports.

Ike has wreaked havoc on island nations already suffering from the effects of Hurricane Gustav last week, making relief efforts even more difficult.

Meanwhile, Florida communities from the Keys to Naples were evacuating and declaring states of emergency. New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana, as well as the eastern Texas coast, are well within the National Hurricane Center's projected five-day path of the storm, which is subject to change. So are rigs that supply about a quarter of US oil.

Tropical Storm Hanna may not be a hurricane, but it's still dumping tons of water on the US east coast as it moves northeast this afternoon. US officials have not reported any deaths from the storm, which is bearing down on New Jersey and will likely travel over Boston very early tomorrow morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Some 60,000 homes lost power in North Carolina earlier in the day, although more than a third of those had power back, Reuters is reporting. The storm has left as much as five inches of rain in some locations.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Hurricane Ike, which as of 5 p.m. EST Saturday was packing winds of 135 mph, making it an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Earlier, AccuWeather was predicting that Ike's strength will ebb and flow between Category 2 and 3 as it makes its way west through the Caribbean, hitting Cuba Monday morning as a Category 2. It will likely gather strength as it leaves Cuba for open Gulf of Mexico waters on Wednesday morning, which means it could threaten the Florida Keys. Officials there began evacuating residents this morning.

Tropical Storm Hanna made landfall on the border of South Carolina and North Carolina this morning. Reuters reports that the storm was not quite at hurricane strength, with top windspeeds of about 60 miles per hour, but had enough force to knock power from about 10,000 homes.

Hanna, which killed more than 500 people in Haiti, will likely flood significant parts of the Eastern Seaboard as it makes its way north. At the time of this posting, its center is over southern Virginia.

Her successor, Ike, following close behind, is expected to pack an even stronger punch. Already a Category 3 hurricane in the Atlantic, current predictions by AccuWeather have Ike's eye traveling over open ocean between Cuba and Florida at the same level. However, the storm could gather strength and become a Category 4, and even a slight deviation would put the center of the storm over Havana or southern Florida. Oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are also at risk.