Accuweather reports Conditions Deteriorate in Florida Panhandle as Unprecedented Category 4 Hurricane Michael Nears Landfall.
Major Hurricane Michael, an unprecedented storm, is bearing down on the Florida Panhandle as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Michael is expected to make landfall near Panama City, Florida, between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. CDT Wednesday.
Should Michael’s eye cross the coast as a Category 4 hurricane, it would be the first time on record for such an occurrence over the Big Bend area of Florida’s coast, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
“Michael is a historic storm. A Cateogry 4 hurricane has never struck that part of Florida. The coastline will be changed for decades,” AccuWeather Vice President of Forecasting and Graphics Operations Marshall Moss said.
The storm will bring sustained winds of 80-100 mph with gusts of 120-160 mph to parts of the Florida Panhandle, mostly within 40 miles of where Michael makes landfall. The strongest gusts are likely just to the east of the center. This will lead to widespread tree and structural damage.
Michael Winds Hit 150 MPH, Nearly Cat 5
NASA: Michael Intensifying – Now 150 MPH
The latest GOES16 satellite closeup of the eye of Hurricane Michael suggests it has further intensified and now stands on the threshold of a CAT5 storm. It would become Cat5 at 156mph sustained winds.
NASA: Max sustained winds in high-end Cat 4 have unfortunately continued to intensify, now at 150 MPH! Pressure down to 27.26″.
https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/1050051973972721664
Best wishes to Florida and anyone in the path.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Karl Denninger at marketticker is not overly impressed with the storm.
Back in the day when I was a yut….
Florida housing consisted of ranch style 1 story concrete block houses.
No one built near the beach. Unless it was a tar paper fishing shack.
Ain’t federally subsidized flood insurance, the government guaranteeing all mortgages and cheap and easy money grand?
Theft always is, for those receiving the loot.
The upside is the hurricane is moving very quickly and hurricane force winds are very tightly wound around the center (within 40 miles). Outside of that 40 miles there will be very little damage. The area if pretty rural and having a couple of rows of old oak trees between your roof and the winds is often enough to minimize damage in a fast moving storm.
The pain is for those who live right on the beach. There roofs will be gone and houses flooded. Fortunately, the federal government provides very inexpensive flood insurance for these folks. So those mansions will be rebuilt quickly.
I wouldnt want to live by the gulf or Atlantic coasts going forward. Whether you believe in climate change or not the thing no can dispute is there are more category 4 and 5 storms hitting the US the last decade. The backup capital is Denver. We may well need to move it there in the next few decades.
The U.S. just ended a new record long period without a major hurricane- CAT 3 or above. The record ran for 12 years, so there are not more cat 4 and 5 storms hitting the U.S. in the U.S. in the last decade.
Never let facts interfere with your baseless, idiotic statements.
And what facts are those? The ones that match your narrative? See Trump supporters can beat the liberals to a pulp with all kinds of lies – nature not so much…
Plus, everyone should know by now that hurricanes are “good for the economy”.
Hurricanes Maria and Irma both reached Cat 5 status. Irma slowed to a cat 3 before hitting Florida due to interaction with the central mountains over Cuba. At its peak, hurricane Irma was the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic.
What the strength is when it hits isnt the point. It is what the strength is 12-24 hours prior to hitting.