Floydbuster

The Cuban radar looks almost due north at the end.

Here's a midnight video update for my fellow night owls. Ian is strengthening faster than the videos can be uploaded! Crazy!

I wonder if Ian is going to intensify once it moves northeastward with the trough, because right now it looks like it's about to slam into shear.

962-964 mb per recon.

I'd rather it become a Cat 4 now and weaken rather than take two days and peak right before landfall. That's what happened with Hurricane Michael. He screwed around so much taking his sweet old time being sheared that by the time he intensified, it was too late to weaken before landfall.

Looks extremely similar to Hurricane Lili in 2002 as she crossed over Cuba. Almost 20 years ago to the day.

New Video Update on Ian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s21N7LmYW6s

This is a good post. One big factor too is that Florida has some of the best building codes around. You literally had Hurricane Irma's Category 3 eyewall move over downtown Naples, the Naples Airport recorded a wind gust to 142 mph, and then the backside was dry and weak. People literally were taking their dogs to poop like a thunderstorm had moved in a few minutes after the eyewall of this "monster" storm struck. Those building codes are amazing. To be fair though, Irma's strange angle approach to the coast caused a reverse surge along much of the west coast. Charley's small size limited his surge along the coast. We have yet to see a major hurricane dragging up the western side of the peninsula yet. I'm curious how the surge would be.

Wow if that 06z Euro verified, the storm surge would just push straight up Tampa Bay.

Hole punch coming soon.

It's a double edged sword. If it slows, the winds could weaken but the wind field expands and the flooding rains and surge are horrendous. If it moves fast, it could bring major hurricane winds into the peninsula.

Here's a late night Ian video for the night owls like myself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Oi2_jjOjRI

That CDO should really crank overnight.

Anyone have stats on the last direct hurricane impacts to Tampa? I know 1921 was the last direct major strike, but what was the last Cat 1 or 2?

I'm leaning towards a lower peak intensity but a stronger landfall.

As I stated before I went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, I still favor the EURO solution only because it keeps Ian less organized in the short term, which seems likely because of Ian's current disorganization. The models further west like the GFS and similar members, all have Ian basically sub 980-mb by late tonight or the wee hours of tomorrow. That just doesn't seem realistic to me given the current state of organization.

The EURO shows this becoming a major hurricane, but not right away. 24 hrs from now it's still getting it's act together. That seems much more likely given how disorganized it is right now. The GFS has this thing taking off immediately and being on it's way to Category 2 status 24 hrs from now. I'm skeptical of that. Thus, I'm leaning towards the EURO model, atleast short term.

I hate to say it, but the EURO looks more accurate as far as Ian's initial organization. It keeps it as a 1000 mb storm over the next 24 hrs, and then strengthens rapidly once in the Gulf. Right now that seems more realistic given it's current state.

Watching the satellite, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a reformation somewhere closer to the deep convection more around 15.5N/78.3W.

I recall with Charley the NHC had the EXACT final Florida landfall track nailed on an early forecast days before: But then the computer models kept insisting it would move further west or ride up the coastline. So they shifted the track west. The models were also insisting on fast weakening right before landfall: MAJOR HURRICANE STRENGTH SEEMS QUITE PROBABLE OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN GULF OF MEXICO ON FRIDAY. CHARLEY COULD STRENGTHEN A LITTLE MORE BETWEEN THE 12 AND 24 HOURS TIME PERIODS...AND THEN WEAKEN SLIGHTLY BEFORE MAKING LANDFALL DUE TO INCREASING VERTICAL SHEAR AND COOLER COASTAL WATERS AROUND THE TAMPA BAY AREA. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST IS CONSISTENT WITH THE SHIPS AND GFDL INTENSITY MODELS. Then of course, Charley moved further east and was much stronger. Just food for thought.

I remember the models showing Ivan weakening in the Gulf and we waited and waited and waited. It came ashore with 120 mph winds.

Some of these models show 40 mb of weakening in six hours prior to landfall. That would be insane.