That’s the question I get asked the most. It’s not like it’ll just “get bad” at a certain time, and then be “not bad” at a certain time. This will be an event that will be building through the overnight hours and into the first half of Wednesday, so there is a “window” between midnight tonight and noon on Wednesday when we’ll see the worst of whatever ike dishes out here locally. Do NOT expect hurricane conditions anywhere in South Florida although hurricane-forced gusts might come close to the middle and lower keys later tonight. We will see winds gusting to over 40 mph with some of the stronger rainbands and that might be enough to cause F.P.L. a few headaches. So far, dry air ahead of Ike continues to have a grip on our weather so rainbands and squalls have remained suppressed across extreme south Miami-Dade County and the Keys but tropical moisture and greater instability should move north tonight and overspread the rest of South Florida. The magic numer is 80, as in 80 degrees west longitude. Once Ike crosses that line, we’ll be on the “stronger” side of the hurricane and rainbands will increase quickly here. I hate these storms that hit at night but unfortunately the worst of it will be overnight into the rush hour tomorrow. Ike is still expected to head into the Gulf of Mexico later in the week and possibly threaten Texas. We’ll see what the 5:00 P.M. advisory says but at this point in the game for us locally, it’s now just a matter of watching the radar and “nowcasting” through at least midday Wednesday.
John Gerard
