Hurricane Irma
 

Early warning time: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weath...904-story.html

Irma is the first Atlantic hurricane to ever reach Category 5 status outside the the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico and it's still 150 miles from land. (Antigua).Looks like this will end up being one of the all time powerhouse hurricanes.

It's already in the top 7 hurricanes, historically -- since these storms have been tracked. This is indeed could prove to be another Andrew -- but this time on steroids.

Bucs/Dolphins game looks like it will either be postponed or moved.

I was in Florida when Charlie leveled Punta Gorda and Ivan tore up the pan handle. A couple more came thru that year as well.

The worst of it was insurance companies paying 30 cents on the dollar and premiums going up 400%. Some just abandoned their property or what was left of it. I hope lessons were learned.

Stay safe Mke and all.

Florida Keys storm surge projected to be 11 feet. Stay safe.

Seems everything hinges on when it makes a right turn north. That's suppose to happen sometime Sat. or Sun. I'd imagine by Thursday they'll have a better target forecast. Such a storm making a direct hit on Miami would be catastrophic. If it travels a bit further west before turning north, Tampa would get it. Best case scenario would be an early turn having it skirt the east coast. Whatever the case, If I lived in Florida I'd be really concerned.

This does seem like one heck of a storm. In a way it is interesting to see Mother Nature assert herself, unfortunately the damage done will be severe. 185 MPH winds! Holy Shit!

Wishing the folks in south Florida the best. Have a son in law in Lakeland, glad he's not on the coast. He has two brothers that are dealing with Harvey.

If you can get out, I hope you do.

Possibly to Pittsburgh or Philiadelphia.It's happened before.A couple of years ago when Buffalo had a freak huge snowstorm in November, they played the Jets in Detroit.And before that when the Metrodome roof collapsed , the Vikings went to Detroit to play the Giants.

Apparently Detroit wasn't available this weekend.

http://larrybrownsports.com/football...rs-game/392915

It's already a little nuts in the Tampa area. Gas stations are backed up. No bottled water available. Grocery stores are starting to thin out. The good news is there is time to re-stock. I think watching Houston has put the fear in these folks.

The latest 5-day model suggests that Tampa might escape the bullet. Wunderground.com has the storm moving up along the east coast or directly hitting the peninsular at the south and moving straight up it north. This latter scenario could be disastrous for the Lake Okeechobee area which is NW of me.

Be careful Boxcar.

Good news: I'm well inland, and 70' above sea level. Bad news: I'm in a mobile on a 3-acre farm with two horses to take care of in the pasture. We rode out several of these in '04, but this one's a real monster. Hoping it turns early up the Atlantic coast.

My mobile was built to post-Andrew standards, but if the winds get too high, all bets are off.

Just got a call from Ian Meyers & he's right in the path of the hurricane. From our conversation it sounds like his home is going to take a hit at the minimum. He's stocking up on bottled water. Ian is one of the good guys & if you believe in God, please mention him in your prayers.