Something else to watch buoys in the Gulf and notice the wave heights going up. You have Station 42039 (115nm ESE Pensacola) that has slowly grown to 7.2ft wave height from 4.6ft 24 hours ago. Even more impressive is Station 42003 (260nm S Panama City) that went from 5.6ft to 12.5ft over 24 hours.

This isn't even the storm central area, either. This is just the wonderful wave heights building as the winds push the water of the Gulf northward.

Darn, I gotta hope against hope this thing just gets sheared to heck and back and becomes a minimal Cat 1 on landfall. To hope for anything else is to wish grief on people somewhere on the Gulf Coast...