This sucks. Right at us.

One is wheelchair bound n my other friend is 82 and both had to start over two years ago. I’m trying to be optimistic and not feed their fears but I am sympathetic to them. Be safe out there.

They have few options

Don't want to be around when it escalates. Heading north. This sucks.

The good news is so far they are saying maximum Cat 2

until it turned into a 4? My bf is vewy nervous about this one and he's lived here for 25 years.

This year is making me weary. Some a-hole in another DU forum said he wished FL and everyone here would get blown off the map. Thankfully, the post was removed.

Glad I never saw that post

Thank you Jury on that one .

Not good . . .

I know what the S and H mean, but I am not familiar with the M.

M is major hurricane Cat 3 or above

Before fleeing for Mar-a-Lardo

Considering how often the Trump-humping Evangelicals are invoking the Almighty, maybe the Big Fella is reminding them about how far they’ve diverged from the spirit and letter of His law with something they can’t miss.

I’d think that a class 3 hurricane ought to attract their attention.

In Florida.

gulf water temp
https://www.seatemperature.org/north-america/united-states/gulf-mexico-temp.htm

Is this a recent thing or am I just not remembering correctly? I thought they formed in the Atlantic and moved towards the Caribbean, Gulf and eastern seaboard.

… BEFORE Milton arrives (with more rain). So, another storm with lots of flooding likely.

That seems to be the trend now with these storms… massive flooding. Yikes!

Not good

I’m not over PTSD from that one. My area like many got major flooding from Helene. Luckily my house ok. I can’t imagine what this will do to our high cost of home insurance in Florida.
Stay safe fellow DU Floridans!

I'd be very nervous if I was in Fort Myers right now.

They ended up staying with us for several weeks until they could find a place to rent because they lost two homes, a motorhome, two vehicles, and a large boat. They are in their 80s and have a lot of medical issues. They are now in Sarasota and they are getting their new motorhome ready so they can hit the road and get the hell out of Dodge.

on edit: I'm in the path, but I'm going to wait and see if it changes course before I do anything

This just feels worse part of the issue is that a lot of the hotels are already filled with people who lost their house a week and change ago from Helene also the streets are covered in debris because the county closed the dump because they worry hurricane trash will fill it up (seriously).

I think people are over playing The Surge this time now storm surge is a problem but if it directly itches a category three or above there are other serious problems as well well Inland I might add.

As a native Floridian who grew up on the water and lived most of my life on the water, I have perfected my hurricane preparedness plan. Basically, you throw your hard drive in the car, grab your jewelry and anything that is sentimental, and you head off to a hotel in a safe place. Fortunately, most hotels accept pets now so that's no longer a problem. And when you've seen as many people as I've seen lose everything they own, you just don't attach sentiments to things the way most people do. Gone are the days when we would lose family photos because everything's backed up to a cloud. Losing everything used to be a lot more devastating than it is today. You may have to live in a f****** FEMA trailer while your house is being repaired, or hunker down with relatives, but if you are safe and have your loved ones with you, you're already ahead of the game. Pro tip: take photos with your phone of everything you own that is insured: Furniture, artwork, electronics, jewelry, china, other valuables, etc. This will save you a lot of headaches when it comes to dealing with your insurance company. And instead of panicking over everything you might lose, start thinking about how much fun you'll have going out shopping for new stuff.

too many people will NOT leave their pets for that reason!

Alicia, first storm of the season.. I lived around 30 miles north of Galveson. My good friend lived on the beach with her 4 big dogs and wasn't going anywhere. I said, come on, bring the dogs. She did, we were all safe. Her home was nearly destroyed along with the houses near hers.. they were pretty rickity in those days..

this time next week

Batten down