Hurricane Gustav's forecast track sends the storm into the Gulf of Mexico as a major hurricane this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says this will be the first major hurricane in the Gulf since the 2005 season that brought Katrina, Rita and Wilma to the Gulf Coast.

Officials say since it has been three years since a major storm threatened coastal residents along the Gulf, people need to make sure they are prepared and pay attention as we get closer to the long holiday weekend.

"The last major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico would have been Wilma in 2005," says Meteorologist Dennis Feltgen at the Nationalane Center.

He adds, "The cone of uncertainty runs from the southwest coast of Florida through the northern half of the Yucatan Peninsula, to just off shore of Southern Louisiana." So, he says everyone along the Gulf Coast needs to have a hurricane plan ready to go.

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Officials fear some hurricane amnesia could have set in since 2005 and note that many new people, with no experience with hurricanes, have also moved to the region over the past three years.