Hurricane Irma: September 8, Update B

I know I’m a few time zones behind so this is a very quick update for now (whilst my very supportive (and poorly – sneeze, sneeze, cough, cough) hubby makes dinner!)

Hurricane Irma

She is a cat 5 storm now with winds of 160mph, central pressure 924mb. They just upgraded her after a plane went in to get fresh data.

She has started to move more westward and is now moving due W at 12mph and is currently at 22.1N, 77.7W. Her eye is making landfall in Cuba:

This matches my scenario #2 from yesterday:

2.     She takes a slightly more westward track for the next 1-1.5 days: In this case, she will get closer to Cuba, and may even make landfall for a short while (quite bad for Cuba). If this happens, her intensity will definitely take a hit and she will most likely be a cat 3 or 4 as she emerges - depending on how long she is over Cuba. 

I don’t know yet if she will get to scenario 3 or not – it depends on how long she will be over Cuba. Regardless, I hope to see some decrease in her intensity as a result. Sorry Cuba! I know they evacuated the north coast ahead of this storm.

With her westward movement, the overall track has of course shifted to the west:

If you missed it and are wondering, here’s the post with the Technical Alert! about why this storm has been so tricky to forecast and what will make her turn.

For those of you in Florida, there is a very good possibility she be making landfall on the west coast. She is not near that front yet though:

Dinner ready… I’ll be back soon with more!

Chow!

J.  

Blogs archived at http://jyotikastorms.blogspot.com/
Twitter @JyovianStorm
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DISCLAIMER: These remarks are just what I think/see regarding tropical storms - not the opinion of any organization I represent. If you are making an evacuation decision, please heed your local emergency management and the National Hurricane Center's official forecast and the National Weather Service announcements. This is not an official forecast. If I "run away, run away" (Monty Python), I'll let you know.