The eye is projected to go right over my house in Tampa. I have evacuated to Steve's house but I'm worried about my house. I wasn't able to board up the windows. Hopefully I just get lucky.

 

The eye is going to be where Josh is in just a few minutes. Category 4. 130mph sustained with gusts above that. I don't know how deep the water will be there but if you pray, pray for him.

 

Yikes, just yikes. Taken off of windy.com using the address he posted.

 

Prayers for all. Stay safe!

 

Updates?

 

Chances are, anyone that's been through it has no power to post. Power is out over large areas.

 

Weather is starting to hit Tampa. Heavy rains and sporadic tornadoes. We tested the generator setup and finished all the initial prep this morning. Now we're just drinking beer, watching the news, and waiting to see what happens.

 

Cat 4

 

Storm is starting to lose strength. Predicted to be just a cat 1 by the time it hits Tampa. Naples and Ft. Meyers are going to get the brunt of it.

 

w00t! I hope that forecast holds true!

 

A friend in Fort Myers has a wind gauge and was posting speeds that went up to 108mph an hour ago but haven't heard anything since.

 

Radar indicates that is likely accurate

 

Even though I know he doesn't have power, I've been checking back on this thread every half hour to see if there are any updates from Viperormiata. Just want to make sure the dude is all right. It's funny how you feel like you know people you've only met on the internets.

 

definitely looks like it is coming apart on radar @ 5pm

 

^ Nice shot. That's reassuring for a lot of us. I'm sweating the storm surge most at this point; with landfall happening earlier than expected, plus it falling apart a little bit, I'm hoping we can escape with minimal flooding. I've got the miata in my garage on jackstands as high as I could get it, if I could escape with minimal water in the house and a running miata I'd be super excited.

 

I am in Seminole Heights in Tampa and stayed home. Pretty windy but nothing really strong yet. Still have power. Expecting all my trees to fall on the house and the one car I have left in the yard. Emptied storage shed of the expensive to replace things. I have a lawn mower in my kitchen. No garage here. Put the Miata in long term parking garage at the airport. One car under neighbors carport across the street out of reach of falling trees. Expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

 

That's precipitation radar- there's still a strong cyclonic form, but yeah I hope the precip is spread out. Weatherunderground has good interactive map if you want some data with visuals.
weather underground

 

2nd floor middle of the garage is actually probably really safe.

 

In case anyone cares: I cancelled my Key West trip

 

The hurricane will be gone by then. I am sure you could get a really good deal on your hotel. I'm sitting on the porch with sixshooter right now watching the rain and tropical storm winds. It's not so bad.