Good Morning.

Irma is expected ashore in Florida within the next 24 hours.

The storm remains Category 4, but it has weakened slightly due to skimming along the northern coast of Cuba.


The track has moderated slightly, and now instead of a direct hit along the length of the Florida penninsula, it now looks like it will slide up the western shore. The storm is so massive though, that it will only have a slight moderating effect on the East coast.

I have a personal stake in this one - my aunt is hunkered down in Lake Worth, not very far from Palm Beach and our hoped for target at Mar-A-Largo. It looks like the worst of it will now miss there.

But because of the slightly western track now, my brother's mother-in-law is directly in Irma's sights in Fort Meyers.

The company I work for here in Boston has their national headquarters in Key West; I don't know anyone personally there yet, but many of our senior staff does. Our local COO has done some training there, and he noted that the highest point in Key West is just 19 feet above sea level. As of this morning, Key West was the expected landfall location in the United States.

Being a northerner, I'm afraid I have no reference for this storm. I've lived through many blizzards and nor'easters, but even the worst of those was barely category-1 strength, with winds just topping out at 75 mph.

"Be Prepared" is only the weakest thing I can say at this point.