
Irma is looking more and more Tampa-bound, forecasters say
Hurricane Irma is making its slow fateful right turn that will put it on a collision course with Florida’s west coast Sunday as forecasts are locking in on a path that includes the Keys, southwestern Florida and the Tampa Bay region.
“It’s just starting to happen,’” National Hurricane Center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said Friday afternoon. “The centre has cleared the Cuban coast, it’s entering the Florida Straits.”
And as it is doing so, the storm that had fallen to a Category 3 with 125 mph (20 kph) winds, is already showing signs of regaining its previous powerhouse strength, getting better organized, Feltgen said. The warm water in the Florida Straits is flirting with 90 degree temperatures and is deep, essentially a buffet for a hurricane.
“The hurricane warnings are for the entire peninsula and west to Panama City,” said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at the private firm WeatherBell Analytics. “Only 70 miles of the panhandle is not under a hurricane warning … That’s how massive the hurricane is.”