An observation from a fire weather forecaster in the frozen North. There has been some discussion about Cuba's topography and its ability to affect intensity....In western Cuba the highest peaks are 300m (the projected path of Ivan). In central Cuba the highest peak is 1100m. In eastern Cuba the highest peak is 1800m. Bottom line is that there is little to no potential for topography to influence the intensity of this storm. Jamaica is the same story. Intensity will be a function of eyewall replacement, shear and SSTs.