Florida is already declared state of emergency.

This thing makes Hervey look like just a big rainstorm. They said its the 8th strongest wind measurements in human recorded hostory.

And right behind Hurricane Irma... is Hurricane Juan. Following the same track. Can you imagine Florida getting hit by two cat 4 hurricanes in the space of a week? Maybe then they'll get a clue, if there is anything left in florida that is.

Any chance of Mar-a-lago getting washed away? Losing his own money is something Trump understands.

First off, Ogion, it's Jose, not Juan, and second off, it's a tropical storm. It will likely become a hurricane, but it's not yet and won't be for days, at least. It also isn't following the same track, just a similar one, and it is sooooo far from the shoreline that knowing exactly where it will go is impossible right now.

Irma will probably not weaken by the time it hits the coast and will do some serious damage to Florida if it takes a direct hit, but Puerto Rico and the other Caribbean islands in its wake today are going to need a lot more help putting the pieces back together than Florida will.

Ogion, climate change is a hoax invented by Goldman Sachs to rig the Spanish Premier Soccer league.

Everyone should pray that the storms stay out in the Atlantic and do not make landfall no matter how disappointing that outcome would be for some people's political views and agendas.

I pray that the storms fly off into outerspace and make mars habotable again

Welp, The Florida Keys are just insane right now, I can't even get out of my house onto the main road to get preparation supplies. I cant imagine trying to leave, bloody hell.

i just joined habotable mars for hummanity

Well, the good news is Florida still likely has 3 days to prepare.

The other good news, from what I've seen, is that hurricane force winds are only extending about 45 miles from the eyewall. This is actually fairly small for a hurricane. So if it stays even just a little out to sea, damage won't be too bad. I just hope it doesn't track into the gulf. Because if it hits those waters it'll become a monster

If it follows the ridge on the high pressure system (it's a hurricane, it will) in the Atlantic that has been leading it this whole time, it's not gonna track into the Gulf. Something would have to change pretty dramatically for that to happen. The odds of it staying in the Atlantic off the cold front that just passed over the Midwest yesterday and is tracking out toward the sea and never making a true landfall is higher.

to ride the gulf stream

Send bob the builder down there to build a giant sea-wall

Seriously, 9 foot surge in Tampa and southwest FL would be completely devastating even dozens of miles inland.

Not to fear.

Snarky comments on the internet will protect the hundreds of thousands of people in the projected path.

I wanna point out that south beach has already been flooding like crazy earloer this summer.. this will probably devastate miami if it goes north. My sister lives in Miami along with my 2 nephews and my neice.

Lol people think that an active Atlantic Hurricane season is related to global warming. Maybe, they should pick up a encyclopedia and review the laundry list of storms that have been around for centuries. lol you people are silly.

An Atlantic Basin Category 5 is the largest in human history for that part of the Ocean.

nah there have been other category 5 hurricanes and unless you have a time machine and can travel back in time to monitor every hurricane to ever have existed then.. that statement was pointless Brainbomb.

In the Atlantic Basin.do you know what that is.
Do you know what is unique about a Hurrican forming as a cat 5 over the Atlantic Basin

@brainbomb
Its because Irma formed so far away and usually storms that strong get whipped up north by an Upper-Level low but a Bermuda high strengthened(Unrelated to Global Warming) and crushed the upper level low allowing Irma to stay in the Warm Atlantic for longer. Atlantic waters are actually normal for this time of year, its because Irma's steering allowed it to stay so long.

Yes waters are warmer than average in the Carribean sea but its barely above average and Irma isn't in the Carribean sea.

nah happens all the time throughout recorded and unrecorded history although we can't be sure, but we know hurricanes have existed since at least after the end of the ice age. If you are saying this is the first cat 5 in 10,000 years then I give up. Then that is just silly.

@ND hes talking about a Cat 5 forming over the open Atlantic Ocean. That rarely happens the last one was Isabel in 2003 and Irma could eat Isabel for breakfast.

ND is clearly the worlds premier expert on Atlantic storms and nothing anyone says will be of value.

yeah a hurricane cat 5 has never happened over the Atlantic in the past ten thousand years. How anyone knows that for sure.. lol really makes you think.

ND isn't a premier expert on Atlantic storms, but we're in hurricane season and hurricanes happen. This hurricane has very little, if anything, to do with climate change. He's quite right about that.

What has to do with climate change is the fact that more major hurricanes are occurring and that less hurricanes overall are occurring. In general, the trend is pointing to stronger storms with wider devastation paths as they occur. Irma is appearing no differently. Over the next few decades, that trend might become more obvious. I hope it doesn't.

I just like how everyone completely ignored my analysis on why Irma got so strong. I put a lot of heart into that

I am glad to have been of some help in this debate. Let's all stop being doomsayers please.

We will see @Bo. Regarding the second point. Also, while I don't consider myself an expert on Atlantic Storms I do consider myself an expert concerning historical events and I can tell you that there have been major storms in North America prior to any official rating system of hurricanes. I can also tell you that Hurricanes have existed since there the end of the last age and probably since there was water on planet earth. So, to be a doomsayer about it is silly. It happens, it's natural and Bo is right about that. Thank you Bo for agreeing with me.