OK, have not seen a thread, so anyone in the path that wants to check in here we can.
Conditions in Palm Harbor (near Clearwater) are calm now. About an hour ago a minor band passed through, looks like another is going to hit in about 15-20 minutes
A wider view clearly shows the eye-ish structure. I’ve been busy with work so have not looked too hard at the actual picture. I’m more of a radar/satellite data type guy anyway.
The wind depiction on Nullschool is impressive, especially with Franklin churning relatively nearby
So far we have not seen the explosive growth that was expected. I suspect the 5 PM update will have it close to 100 MPH maximum winds. I get about 90-95 looking at the 3 PM data on Nullschool.
I’m hunkering down with my pack of dogs. My wife is in a rehab nearby recovering from a broken leg...so no option to evacuate this time, even if it looked far worse for me. I have plenty of water (a case of bottles are frozen) and cooked up some rice and ground beef I can eat cold if I lose my power. With my wife basically gone for 2 weeks (she was home for about 2 days last weekend — I could not deal with it and her fracture was getting worse) my fridge looks like a bachelors. So there’s not much to worry about there.
Dogs have plenty of food. I have a manual can-opener, batteries, lamps, a hand crank radio...I don’t think I’ll need it, we should see moderate storm force winds. It could still bomb out, but I’m thinking that high end category 3 or cat 4 isn’t going to realize.
Best of luck to those, like me, affected. Let’s hear how your doing. Be safe.