I would imagine that the residents in Jamaica are more than a little nervous......looking at TD 10, although its pressures are somewhat high and the winds are not that strong (yet) it does not appear that it is in a huge hurry to go anywhere. Looking at the latest realtime loops, the storm is 2x the size of Jamaica. For one thing, I believe that we've only gotten one? recon report that I've seen anyway, so I think we need to wait for a couple of more before we can say anything and the models are not set in stone right now as they will need more info to get a more reliable track/intensity thing going.
The very fact that the NWS in Melbourne is saying that it may affect their weather by the weekend tells ME that they believe this storm will have an impact on FL; whether or not it's a direct landfall hit or just the outer bands is still to be seen. You never really see them talk about a system that's so far out this early in the week. Which, of course, makes you wonder what they know and what we don't. I think we can safely assume that there is a valid reason why they think it will affect their weather. That being said, I would assume that the SHEAR will lessen (as they have been saying) and this storm has a real chance of exploding on us like Opal. We just never know and we should not try and predict the future (or the past, for that matter) based on one or two loops or recon reports.

Your eyes are your best storytellers....rely on your gut instincts and not some ridiculous "I told you this and I told you that" BS and come to your own conclusions.

And, no, I am NOT a meteorologist, but I did (really) stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.