Morning Update on Michael...

As we wake up feeling giddy about Drew Brees & the Saints, it’s nice to know Hurricane Michael is doing exactly as predicted with no surprises.   Last night’s projected center line track was near Panama City and this morning’s new track is slightly to the east.    Jim Cantore on TWC stated he was confident the center would make landfall 30 miles either side of Panama City and it’s hard to argue with that.  On the water vapor loop, a deep trough is approaching from the west and that will turn Michael away from us.   All models remain tightly clustered over the Florida beaches and about the only major impacts for LA/MS will be higher tides for the next 2 days.  Michael will bring major impacts to areas from Ft. Walton to the Big Bend area of Florida with the worst east of the center line track.  He has reached 86.1 degrees west longitude (we’re at 90 degrees west) and could reach 87 degrees before turning back towards the NE later tonight and on Wednesday.  As Michael is passing right over the “Loop Current” in the Gulf, there really is nothing to prevent him from becoming a “Monster Storm”, perhaps even a Cat. 4 before landfall.   Areas far inland, even like Tallahassee, will have power outages for days after Michael passes.   Please don’t be foolish and try to travel into the path of this storm.   It could be their Katrina and we all remember the damage she caused.  For us we should see our current SE wind flow veer more easterly during the day becoming NE later tonight.   As Michael passes well to our east on Wednesday, winds will become more northerly bringing in drier air that by Thursday will also be noticeably cooler.   Next update this afternoon.  Stay tuned!