Hurricane Idalia 2023

Storm UPDATE:

Here is a new live news youtube channel as the one from the OP has been canceled and i can post the video directly


Earlier this morning it was officially classified as a Hurricane and an eye wall has begun to develop
NBC NEWS

Idalia strengthened to a hurricane early this morning and has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.

Surface pressure has been reported at 977mb and falling but I have not seen official readings

a reply to: Trueman
As you pointed out there is a lot of talk now about the upper level winds from Hurricane Franklin pulling Hurricane Idalia further to the WEST, however looking at some charts this morning it seems to me, to be moving further to the EAST of the previous prediction cones.

I have not taken any pictures as of now. All there is here in central Fl. is overcast skys to the west and south with a nice sunrise in the east, but the higher altitude clouds are beginning to move quickly.

Here some links if people want to see some beach cams
Florida Keys Webcams


Marco Island Live Cam

Clearwater Beach Live Cam (Tampa area)

Edit to add: St. Georges Island Live Cam (just south of Tallahassee)
Im still waiting for some footage from the hurricane hunter aircraft. But there is some footage from cuba

a reply to: datguy

The next 12-24 hours, now until landfall, it's predicted to undergo rapid intensification.

While getting really fierce the path is as about as favorable as you can get.

Not a prediction.

North enough of Tampa to just cause surge (which will still be damaging), and then skirting a path between Tallahassee and Gainsville. The wind field for hurricane strength winds is also fairly compact with Idalia. The eyewall may come ashore in the sea grass preserve, the least populated portion of the coast.

This seems like it's going to get really scary, but not be close to the worst, with most damage coming from surge at landfall and flooding inland, like Georgia and The Carolinas.

a reply to: Degradation33

not sure any more about how scary it will be. Its been several hours since it reached hurricane status and there hasn't been any significant change to its strength.
Storm surge will be the major factor still but I don't think even that will be as bad as previously forecast

There have been some confirmed tornado's and water spouts down in the Marco island area

Most of the media sources I am seeing now are parroting news from earlier this morning and blowing the storm out of proportion simply because of its projected landfall.
Terms like "once in a lifetime" and "historic" are being used to hype it up

One thing i will say that interests me is that more and more of the "pasgetti plots" show this thing hitting the Atlantic and turning back on Florida

a reply to: datguy

Yeah. It's still a category 1... predicted to become doom.

If there's one thing Florida can do, it's hurricanes.

But recovery ease is changing.

What I don't like are insurance underwriters. They're getting greedy. Using "new normal" excuses to screw over disaster prone states. This is pretty much shifting the burden to state and federal money in recovery efforts.

Every company pulling out says the same thing. They parrot the FEMA speakers "new weather normal" as grounds to stop insuring home owners.

Sorry to politicize this, but if the surge damage is heavy, there may he insurance company fallout, as has been the latest disaster trend.

Save that for after the storm.

This morning, the news media and their favorite doomsday guest weather "experts" (on FoxNews) were describing how Tampa/St. Pete would be experiencing the worst Hurricane since 1912...or some date like that. How the storm surge would swamp the entire downtown area.

This evening, there isn't the same dire sound to the predictions. What did I miss? Another case of MSM drummed up hysteria, like we see with so many hurricanes?

a reply to: carewemust

all the news i keep seeing is still hyping the storm, its kinda sad to see how they are stretching to make it seem more "apocalyptic" than it really is
fear gets ratings apparently

on the real side there is still concern for some of the norther parts of the state but i dont see the massive damage or threat to life as has been fearmongered all day

11pm Storm updateText

Sustained winds of 110 which is nearly cat 3 as forecast, i am hearing that there are new forecasts calling for an increase to cat 4 before landfall.
current Surface pressure reported at 958mb which in indicative of a strengthening storm.

Currently located about 100 miles west of Tampa.
This means an expected change in direction of the winds and currents which will bring the storm surge into the bay and surrounding areas

There will be hourly updates issued for the near future

Additionally, there are now 2 additional plots for future tracks indicating a higher possibility that the storm will hit the atlantic and come back into florida

a reply to: datguy

The forecasters are trying to make up for what is appearing to be an upcoming "egg on face" moment, by sending the Hurricane out into the Atlantic, and then turning it South then West, back into Florida. (They'll probably project it as a CAT-5 coming in smack dab over Miami-Fort Lauderdale.)

a reply to: datguy

We use the National Hurricane Centre and Tropical Storm Risk to track hurricanes (I write about insurance a lot) and so far the tracking predictions are that it's going to cross the panhandle, hitting as a Cat 4, and weaken into a tropical storm before possibly heading for Bermuda (where I am going next week, damn it). No word as yet on where it will go from there - it might just dissipate and become a tropical depression.

originally posted by: Rich Z
Apparently we both picked up a bug the week before when she was in the hospital then and I was caring for her. We both test positive for COVID, but not sure how much stock I am putting into that.

I'm just curious... why on earth would you even bother getting tested?

I've never taken any covid test, and never will (willingly at least)...

Storm Update:

Idalia has made landfall as a Cat 3 Hurricane

CNN
with some footage of flooding as expected

Idalia’s core hit shore Wednesday morning near Keaton Beach, around where the panhandle meets the peninsula.

mixed reports of sustained winds between 110 and 125 mph
All future coarse plotting now push the storm out into the Atlantic with no return visit

originally posted by: tanstaafl

originally posted by: Rich Z
Apparently we both picked up a bug the week before when she was in the hospital then and I was caring for her. We both test positive for COVID, but not sure how much stock I am putting into that.

I'm just curious... why on earth would you even bother getting tested?

I've never taken any covid test, and never will (willingly at least)...

In my case? Because my wife has had pneumonia three times and is officially at risk. We have a friend who lost her mother, her mother's boyfriend and her brother, all to COVID-19, in June 2020.
My wife and I are both vacced & boosted. Last year I came back from the same conference in Bermuda that I'm going to next week with COVID-19, which I passed on to her. We were ill, but not seriously. So, if offered we'll get the next booster.
Anyway - to prevent thread drift, the latest projections are that Idalia will not make landfall again, although it might hit Bermuda as a Tropical Storm.

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

CNN anchor says it was a CAT 4 at landfall.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: AngryCymraeg

CNN anchor says it was a CAT 4 at landfall.

Quite right, it picked up a lot of extra energy from that very warm weather by the coastline and was briefly a Four. It's now a Tropical Storm and veered further North than they thought. That's ominous, it remained a hurricane well overland - they normally weaken massively without access to warm tropical waters. Might hit Bermuda by Sunday according to Tropical Storm Risk.