Jumping the gun??

[Matt]

wilma should speed up after it passes mexico.  no one really knows what is going to happen so they made the safe, and correct, call.  i just wish the call was made sooner and we were playing tonight.

[Guest we-blew-it]

Don't forget, the city uses RayJay for storms.  Also, don't forget that Charlie was supposed to hit us last year and then all of a sudden changed course in the 11th hour.  As unpredictable as this storm is, depending on jet streams and pressures, I think this was the right call.  

Although, the new date does suck since I cannot attend on 12/3.

I agree it was the right call at the time.  The problem is they made the call too early.

[USFPDiddy]

Jim,

I can't give it out on one site.  password only.

The most reliable stuff doesn't have it near us.  As for storm size, just 12 hours earlier it was the smallest cat 5 on record.

It still has one of the smallest eye walls they've ever seen.  I don't know where they're getting or how they're accumulating stats, rather odd that 12 hours earlier the winds extended out a paltry 40 miles and now it's 100 miles?

It isn't big area-wise, but at one point it had the lowest pressure of any storm in the atlantic basin ever.  Very high winds at that time too.

Fortunately, shear will weaken it, and if we're lucky it hits below category 3.  The national hurricane center combines some models and has it hitting somewhere in south florida...approximately 120 to 140 miles south of tampa.  Considering its time over mexico and increasing shear, the damage to tampa looks to be minimal at this point.

Because the storm hasn't turned yet, it can do a lot of different things, ranging from coming RIGHT for us to missing us entirely.  However, the size of a storm has no bearing on its intensity...anything around this storms eye is gonna take it hard if it comes in at 3 or higher.  Charley hit as a 4 in charlotte harbor...this hurricane could cause similar or slightly less damage than that.  It won't be as widespread, but the area it winds up hitting directly isnt going to care about that, now will it?