Volusia and Brevard (about 30 miles east of us) are mandatory evac as of 4:00 pm today, the barrier islands have already started. I agree with your comment about the models. "Q) What does a storm this size do? A) ANYTHING it wants". Last night they were talking about another system pushing it north, hah this thing is just too big to be pushed around.

>Hi Bruce ---
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>I have a bad feeling about this one. I don't think the steering models work very well with very powerful storms. If you recall, they chanted this "it will go north" mantra with Andrew and it never happened until it swept into the Gulf. Seems to me it's doing whatever it wants. There are already mandatory evac orders for the coast in south Florida (you hear that, Roi??).
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>>>2PM advisory indicates that it's still heading west, almost looks like it took a bit of a southern jog, and it's sped up a bit. Yes, it looks like I'm heading out to pick her up tonight. Just wait 'till it hits that supercharger Gulf current....not to be fatalistic, but the Gulf current can add 10-20 MPH to storms.
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>>I just read the latest news and views - yes, it's a real whopper, way bigger than Andrew. It's supposed to start heading NW soon, is the best guess, toward GA, and up the coast. But it's so huge that it'll affect almost all of FL anyway, even if it does move north. The latest news even has New England in the possible eventual path -- perhaps the entire Atlantic seaboard will be hard hit.