Earlier this afternoon, Hurricane Ike became Tropical Storm Ike, after nine days as a hurricane. The downgrade didn't change the possibility of more damage — or the continued wall-to-wall coverage on the cablers.

The New York Times' Brian Stelter describes the technology changes that have come with weather coverage, comparing what is used today with what was first used by an up-and-coming Dan Rather in 1961 — as he reported from Galveston, TX.

"Forty-seven years later, using technology that Mr. Rather couldn't have imagined during Carla, TV networks demonstrated the dangers associated with Hurricane Ike using a cornucopia of maps and graphics," writes Stelter.

He also describes the method employed by FNC's Shepard Smith last night, as the anchor used a "life-size" TV screen and Google Maps to, "zoom in on specific spots as he interviewed Fox correspondents and small-town mayors."

What Smith did last night with the Google map...



...looks similar to what CNN's Jaqui Jeras has been doing this afternoon on the "Magic Wall" ("Weather Wall"?):

While flipping through the DirecTV dial this afternoon we spotted former Dateline NBC correspondent Len Cannon. Cannon is an anchor at KHOU, Houston's CBS affiliate. DirecTV has added KHOU to their line-up as Hurricane Ike approaches Texas. KHOU is on channel 361, between Fox News (360) and The Weather Channel (362).

We prematurely dubbed last weekend, "The Weekend of Ike," when it clearly is going to be this one. The cablers will be in wall-to-wall coverage overnight. All networks have Ike graphics taking up a portion of the screen, complete with the "Face Certain Death" warning in various chyrons:







• Related: The New York Times' Brian Stelter describes how news crews stay safe while covering the storm.

Well this was bound to happen eventually (via Johnny Dollar):



But wait, there's more. Click continued to see Dave Price get caught off guard by a huge wave on The Early Show this morning (and honestly, with the National Weather Service warning residents could "face certain death" if they stay in area...stay safe, correspondents)...

continued...

ABC's Sam Champion had arrived in Texas in time for Nightline last night. CNN's Anderson Cooper broadcast live from Houston as well, and while getting an update from meteorologist Chad Myers asked Myers to email him the best (or perhaps worst) location to broadcast from tonight.

This morning, CNN and MSNBC have begun squeezing back their programming, keeping Hurricane Ike stats on the screen.

Even The Weather Channel is trying to show the seriousness of the Cat 2 storm to anyone choosing to ride it out. Here's their morning headline: "A Potential Life-Threatening Surge from Ike."

We'll update this post throughout the day as we hear who is going to be covering the storm and from where...

• CNN — More than 70 anchors, correspondents, producers and support-personnel will report along the Texas coastline, representing CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN Espanol, CNN Radio, CNN.com and Headline News. In addition to Cooper, Rick Sanchez, Gary Tuchman, Sean Callebs, Betty Nguyen, Susan Candiotti, Jeanne Meserve, Ali Velshi, Rusty Dornin, Rob Marciano and Reynolds Wolf will report on the storm. CNN will remain live all night and into the morning.

• CBS — Hari Sreenivasan is in Houston. Dave Price is in Galveston. Both will report for the Evening News tonight and The Early Show tomorrow.

• FNC — Geraldo Rivera, Steve Harrigan and Marianne Silber are in Galveston, TX, as is Jeff Flock from FBN. Kris Gutierrez is in Surfside Beach, Freeport, Casey Stegall is in Clear Lake and Rick Leventhal is in Port Lavaca. Also, Shepard Smith anchors tonight from 10pm-MidnightET (from New York), followed by Rivera Midnight-3amET and Jamie Colby from 3am-6amET.

• NBC/MSNBC/CNBC — Amy Robach is in Galveston for Today & Weekend Today. Janet Shamlian, Don Teague, Kerry Sanders, Charles Hadlock, Kristen Dahlgren and Jay Gray are on the scene, as is NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Jeff Ranieri and CNBC's Scott Cohn. NBC will also use correspondents and meteorologists from soon-to-be owned The Weather Channel.

• ABC — In addition to Sam Champion, GMA Weekend's Bill Weir is in Texas as well as Sharyn Alfonsi and Ryan Owens.

While covering the 9/11 remembrances, the cable news channels are also keeping viewers up to date on Hurricane Ike. Hurricane warnings are now posted for Texas and Louisiana. The Category 2 storm is expected to make landfall late tomorrow night near Freeport, Texas, about 40 miles south of Galveston.

With Hurricane Ike poised to be next week's big news story, (it's currently a dangerous Category 4 storm) the NYPost's Adam Buckman has thoughts on the coverage of Hurricane Gustav.

"...while a correspondent on Fox News Channels was reporting that no levees had been breached by rising waters, a piece of text just below him on the screen was reporting urgently that a levee had failed...On MSNBC, a correspondent who was driving with a video camera through an area hit by the storm kept saying he didn't see much damage other than fallen trees. But the video he was capturing showed fallen billboards and other smashed signage all over the place."

It appears Tropical Storm Hanna is passing without much damage, but Hurricane Ike is looming. Indications point to a potential landfall by late Sunday, and the cablers have been monitoring the movement all day. The hurricane is likely to be a major topic all weekend.

Yesterday on the cablers, it was wall-to-wall Gustav — today, Hanna and Ike are major topics. But there is a new name being introduced today as well: Josephine. The tropical storm is already forming in the Atlantic Ocean, and being tracked by the meteorologists at each network and being discussed on-air.

So 10 days from today, following Gustav, Hanna and Ike, Josephine could be the key word:

As Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is saying in a presser taken by all three cablers this morning, there are no reports of widespread flooding in the Gulf Coast. Luckily, the damage seems to be minimal, which means focus appears to be shifting back to the RNC. Let's take a look at the aftermath of cabler coverage:

• The Hollywood Reporter's Paul J. Gough focuses on two of the "network stars," at the forefront of the coverage, NBC's Brian Williams and FNC's Shepard Smith. Both described "polar opposite" response between Katrina and Gustav. "Smith, who drew praise for his coverage of Katrina in 2005, agreed that it was a different New Orleans and Gulf Coast that dealt with Hurricane Gustav," wrote Gough.

• The Washington Post's Paul Farhi explains the weather coverage creed: "participation is mandatory." He describes some of the stand-out live shots from yesterday, including CNN's Rob Marciano getting, "nearly blown off a New Orleans rooftop," and "champion weather-interacter," Geraldo Rivera.

• Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times about the more subdued coverage as compared to Katrina. "Conceding on the evening news that the storm was not as bad as expected, Mr. Williams, his shirt dry, his hair only gently ruffled by wind, downscaled Gustav to 'a sizable weather event,'" she wrote.