#17,024
With the caveat that models continue to shift back and forth, and this proto-storm is still 5 or 6 days out, this morning the National Hurricane Center in Miami has put much of Florida in the path of a potential CAT 2 hurricane next week.
As I'm currently in said path, I'll be spending much of my weekend preparing to evacuate, although I'm hoping the storm will continue to shift east and away from me. I don't expect to have a really good sense of its track, or land falling intensity, until Saturday night or Sunday.
And while it is Florida that is under-the-gun first, this storm could slide up the eastern seaboard late next week, so a lot of people should be watching its progress over the next few days. Key messages this morning from the NHC follow:
While this blog, and many other internet sources (I follow and trust Mark Sudduth's Hurricane Track, and Mike's Weather page), will cover this storm, your primary source of forecast information should always be the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
These are the real experts, and the only ones you should rely on to track and forecast the storm.
If you are on Twitter, you should also follow @FEMA, @NHC_Atlantic, @NHC_Pacific and @ReadyGov and of course take direction from your local Emergency Management Office.
