Floridians get your preps ready before the panic. NHC forecasting a Cat 3 by Wednesday.

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/weather/tropical

My family just moved to Florida… geez!

Yeah, doesn't look good.

And guess who just moved to the Tampa area (Clearwater) a month ago. That's right, my wife Cleta & I. Undecided what to do, so we'll follow our neighbors' lead. There's a Copmmunity Center here that's safer, or we could hop in the car (full tank) and go somewhere for a day or two. Beautiful today, though.

8am advisory for Sun Sept 25th

Biturbo--the forecast is looking a lot better for Tampa this morning than it was on Friday. My feeling is that your biggest problem there may be flooding. Definitely do check with your neighbors about whether it floods in your area or not. Some places it floods with even garden variety rainstorms. As of now, looks to be a direct hit on the big bend area.

Thanks, Carol, as FL newbies we're gleaning everything we can from the veterans. BTW, even in PA & NJ we've had some weather-related events. Hurricanes Sandy & Ida were very damaging. No matter where Ian makes landfall, we're sure to have some effects. The maintenance man came around this morning and dropped our metal awnings. Fingers crossed, at least we're not in a flood zone.

Biturbo--Do you have awnings on all your windows? If so, that's great. Surprised they put them down already, considering they are not calling for it to be anywhere in Florida until Wednesday, at the earliest.

Only on South & West sides (it's a rental). The house we're buying is still not completed - long story. We sold our house in PA, so renting or homeless were our options.

OK. 11 AM guidance is again NOT good for the Tampa area. They are all over the place on this one.

Mandatory evacuation tomorrow for our zone. Yet we've talked to some people who plan to stay. We have friends on the other coast who have offered to let us stay in their house (they're not there). A bit of a drive, but with rooms hard to find, we're accepting.

My family is heading out and I suggest all who can get away from this unusual Hurricane to do the same. It is so unpredictable that even the local authorities can not predict the outcome of this system.

Biturbo--That sounds wise to me. Best wishes. Please check in when you can.

8am advisory Tues Sept 27th

Man, coming right at me. Thankfully only a depression by then. Be safe for anyone in its path.

Very strange path… NC is really nice. Maybe a good time to cut any trees down close to the house.

We drove east to our friends' house in Port St. Lucie. What should have taken 3 hours took 5. And not long after arriving we were under a tornado warning. Welcome to FL. But it looks as if practically all of the state will feel some impact. Stay safe Carol & Eric, and everyone else down here.

Nearly a CAT 5 with pressure @ 935… Stay safe!

Good friend of ours has a home in Fort Myers Beach 600 feet from the beach and elected to stay put. Bad mistake and praying for her safety.

Key messages

Biturbo--Yes, tornadoes can be a big issue, separate from the hurricane winds. Hopefully only a cat 1 by the time it gets here, but the eye is scheduled to go within 20 miles of here. Really hoping we have no damage, but figure we will probably lose power.

Somehow a traffic cam is still working… There are cars being swept away.
Stay safe!
https://twitter.com/birdingpeepwx/status/1575159647660654592

And let's hope that this is the last one for a long while, and we can stop watching Weather Channel most of the day. .

It ain’t over yet! Stay safe! South Carolina and my favorite NC town, Oak Island…
Making landfall…