They have to cover their ass, but it's NOT going to make a direct landfall in Tampa. Cat IV is amazing. Andrew, if I'm not mistaken, is the last Cat IV (now a V) to make US landfall. This reminds me of 2002 when Lili was a Cat 1 in the Gulf. We decided to ride it out. Right before my eyes that sucker upgraded to a Cat IV in a matter of a few hours and I started second guessing our decision (probably posts about that somewhere in the archives of this site). Then, luckily, it crossed some of the cooler churned up waters near where Isidore had been 10 days prior and weakened to Cat 1 at landfall. It was a fun yet nasty day in the Big Easy but you gotta know I was getting a wee bit apprehensive there for a bit as I'm sure many on the Islands in and around the 10,000 Islands are now. Wow. Cat IV. Hopefully it will mesh with some colder waters when nearer to the coast and come in as a Cat 2 or Cat 3. Even still, y'all in Central Florida will be talking about this one for decades to come. That's the way these disasters work. Depending on how good/bad you get it, it will become the replacement storm that all future storms of the next 30-40 years will be judged. History. What else can be said?

Steve