Wind picking up in Barbuda now, at 16 nmiles from the eyewall the winds were 61 knots with gusts to 83 knots. This was 30 minutes ago. I imagine the winds have zoomed way up since then.
At 0500 UTC, sustained winds were 108 mph with gusts to 155 mph. That’s equivalent to being in an EF-3 tornado … but one that lasts for 30 minutes or more rather than a minute or two.
Edit: at 0512 UTC, winds dropped to zero/zero. In 12 minutes, gusts went from 155 mph to zero as the station entered the eye. It must be surreal to go from intense sound and fury to dead calm in such a short period of time. I really need to go hurricane-chasing!
It’s interesting that the latest run of the US long range model has Irma come to a screeching halt southeast of Miami then turn north and pass between it and the Bahamas, finally hitting Charleston, SC as a Cat 3 storm during the day on Monday. The sharp right turn is odd.
Anyway, the backside of the eyewall should be hitting Barbuda right now.
Edit: I wonder if the anemometer on that weather station died in the storm.
Oh no! Charleston! It’s good we were just there for the first time during the solar eclipse. I hope they escape this monster as I hope all of the mainland will. I know, living in denial.
I think the idea is to encourage people to get out of the storm’s path and not to have to choose between attending school and vamoosing. Some schools are also used as emergency storm shelters so I’m sure they’re going to be busy getting ready.
My parents live most of the year in a resort community in St. Martin. 20 years or so ago the place was flattened by a hurricane that took out every tree on the property. The few people who didn’t evacuate in advance survived by huddling in a walk-in refrigerator. Thank god my parents are not currently there. It sounds like St. M. will take a heavy hit.
My son was living in Miami this summer and was planning to return this January. He’s worried he won’t have a job to return to as he’s in an industry located on the shore and heavily dependent on boating. His girlfriend has a ticket to get out of Miami tomorrow.
@“Snowball City” , last I heard was that they planned to go to the hospital in Jupiter, which is a little farther from where they live than the nearby hospital in WPB. That was partly due to the fact that someone had booked the birthing suite at St. Mary’s for a month and hospital & employees were under non-disclosure agreements, etc. While no one can confirm who it was, we believe that baby was born late last week (Serena Williams gave birth there and they shut down entire floor) and so the closer hospital with the NICU could be a possibility. I have been texting with S about the situation, but after what I’ve seen in the news this morning, I plan to check in later today. I will have to wait until I can get my desire to shout “Get the heck out of there NOW” under control so I can respect them as the capable young adults they are. I was in respectful mode until I saw news of gas shortages and evacuation traffic out of Miami on this morning’s news 
I can’t imagine that they will try to ride this out in WPB.
We are in south east FL. I think we are pretty prepared- have lots of water, food, dog food and some cash. I filled my gas two days ago and have used about 2-3 gallons since then. If I see a place with a shorter line I will hop in line but I am afraid I will waste more gas sitting there forever than if I just go home and don’t drive too much.
We considered leaving but we have a 75 pound dog so would have to drive somewhere. I always remember the stores of people who tried to leave and got stuck half way up FL when they ran out of gas and there was none to be found.
Kids school was cancelled for tomorrow and Friday. I volunteer today until about 1 then I am free for the rest of the week. I volunteer at a food kitchen which has a big ice machine so if there is any left at the end of the day I may grab a bag or two!
Right now I am focused on the islands. We have friend living in St.Thomas and we are in love with the BVIs - so scary for them. To bring the story back to CC one of the friends on STT is my D19’s friend who gave us lots of good college advice! He is a senior right now and when he visited this summer he gave my D19 lots of good advice and encouragement about things like SATs and which classes to pick. 
Last year with Matthew, schools closed all the way up to middle of state several days early (too early I thought) in order to send buses to Charleston/coast for evacuees. Weren’t needed. Lane reversals worked pretty well once they got going. You just never know. Hopefully with weekend before it potentially gets to SC, they won’t have to call that during school this week and then we’ll see. One model I saw had it coming in at Myrtle Beach - at least tourist season is sort of over so fewer to evacuate if needed.
We are well inland but with Hugo, there was massive destruction here and even in Charlotte so not sure how much it will slow down. Fingers crossed that strength declines.
Oops, sorry I missed you @busdriver11. No, unfortunately (I wish). Long story. In any event it looks like SIL is going to ride it out. 
BTW - flew in and out of Burbank again a few weeks ago. Thought of you and said an extra prayer for our pilots! 
I still love that airport and don’t want it to change.
Thinking about you @bookworm and everyone in south Florida.
@2VU0609, crossing fingers and wishing the very best for for your S, DIL, and you. We’re also on baby watch - d1 is newly moved to Charlotte, and is expecting our second grandson next week. I need to get down there to help with grandson #1 when they go into the hospital for a planned C-section on the 14th. They’ve been there for so short a time that the only people they can ask to help with gs1 in case of an emergency are the people they bought their house from! Today she told me the MD may decide to move things up, if the track is supposed to have an impact on Charlotte.
Thinking of the tens of thousands of people in the southeast who need medical care whether or not there’s a hurricane. Best thoughts to @bookworm, @momtogkc, and all the other CCers under hurricane watch.
A warning to anyone with basic economy (the cheapest category) seats. If the airline overbooks, and they all do by about 5%, you’re the first to be bumped. It’s not a huge deal under normal circumstances but at a time like this when no one is missing or delaying their flight you can be in trouble. Son’s GF got bumped from her flight scheduled for tomorrow so she had to drive all night to Jacksonville for the only remaining flight available, at 6 am today. My guess is that they had enough people at regular economy and higher categories that they bumped some people in advance.
@sue22 which airline and what departure city?
@Sue22, I hope they compensated son’s GF very well for the bump, especially having to drive all night to Jacksonville for a flight. How awful.
Miami, on American to Dallas.
For a look at the strength of the storm as it came through St. Martin,
http://www.mahobeachcam.com
(if the link doesn’t come through just google Maho Beach cam)
Almost all the weather models are now showing Irma’s eye staying offshore. They all show that odd “right turn” between Miami and the Bahamas. The entire Atlantic coast in FL will see hurricane winds but not the maximum winds around the eye. Miami will get the worst of it. Actual landfall would be between Savannah and Charleston as a Cat 2/3.
Hopefully, the models will continue to move the track to the right, out into the Atlantic more.
This is why I could never be an Emergency Manager, especially in hurricane situations. The model uncertainty is high in the timeframe when you need to make decisions. If you wait for better accuracy then it’s usually too late to order evacuations.
OMG @Sue22 - that live cam from St. Martin. 
And that was before the storm knocked the live cam off line. According to a government spokesperson, The four “most solid” buildings on Saint Martin have been destroyed by Irma. That doesn’t bode well for ordinary houses and resorts.
Public service announcement–
You don’t need to BUY water to drink! Just go to your tap before the storm hits and fill up some containers–bottles, pots/pans, water coolers)
Zip lock gallon bags even work. (Just put in another water proof container in case they leak).
Tired of the absolute frenzy that people can’t find water. It’s in your kitchen at the faucet for FREE!
Make and freeze some bags of ice. Make sure you have a cooler ready in case you have to empty the freezer.
Fill a cleaned bathtub with water for basic washing.
Paper plates, cups, silverware will save a lot of angst.
Charge all phones and extra battery cells you have.
S and DIL live in Miami. They have assured me that we will not see them on CNN standing on their roof with the dog, waiting to be rescued! Fortunately, when they bought their house last year, the replaced all the windows and door with category 5 rated impact resistant ones and trimmed back all the trees.
She is a medical PA and he is in disaster and emergency management, so I know they know what to do, but I keep thinking of little things and sending them texts about getting cash and taking pictures of each room for inventory, etc. I think they have finally had enough of me because their last response was, “We have pool rafts, we’ll be fine!” In actuality, they are shoring up the house and will be prepared to leave.
H runs the IT for a FL property and casualty insurance company. He is now on his way to FL to an office in the Daytona area. They expect to be very, very busy!
Hoping that all in Irma’s path stay safe!!