Wilma a Category 4 Hurricane Moving West Northwest

6:45AM
Wilma's forecast has been slowed down, now with a landfall prediction in Florida for Sunday rather than Saturday. It is also still moving west northwest, but generally on track with the forecast. It may approach the Yucatan and clip that, causing some weakening of the system. It's very likely we won't have a good idea of a US landfall point until Friday evening or Saturday.

More to come later today.

Original Update
Hurricane Wilma continues to move West Northwest this evening, and the curve back to the north and northwest is still expected for southwest Florida on Saturday or Sunday. The motion has not slowed down as of yet.

Wilma has been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, very oddly still with a pressure at 894 mb. This is likely a continued fluctuation in intensity based upon eyewall transformations. If it interacts more with the Mexican coastline along the Yucatan it would weaken it more. Best case for the folks in the Yucatan is if it stays more offshore, however this would be worse for those in Florida. There are Hurricane Warnings up along the Yucatan Peninsula.

Folks in the cone of uncertainty will need to watch and make plans if action is needed. Listen to local officials and news media for more information in your particular area.

The current forecast track suggests an extreme southwest florida (south of Naples) track across the state. However there is still a fair bit of uncertainty in the exact track, so those in the cone will need to watch, as stated before. Potentially the pressure gradient may cause winds to be high north of the landfall point as well.

More to come later tonight and tomorrow.

Make your landfall prediction or forecast in this topic.

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Event Related Links
Stormcarib reports from the islands
Cancun Radar Animation (Flhurricane mirror)

Florida Keys Long Range Radar Loop
Tampa, FL Long Range Radar Loop
Miami, FL Long Range Radar
Melbourne, FL Long Range Radar

Emergency Management/County info
Florida County Websites (South to North along the West Coast):
Monroe County Emergency Management (Florida Keys)
Collier County, FL
Lee County, FL
Charlotte County, FL
Sarasota County, FL
Manatee County, FL
Pinellas County, FL

Other Florida County Emergency Management Websites

State of Florida Division of Emergency Management/floridadisaster.org

Forecast Discussions for (Show All Locations):
Tampa,Miami, Key West, Melbourne

"Spaghetti" style model plots from Colorado State / Jonathan Vigh

Local Newspapers/Websites
Naples News

Web based Video and Audio
Many websites require realplayer for video and audio, you can get real player here or an alternative real media player here (Ie WinXp64)

Jim Williams, from Hurricane City and West Palm Beach, will likely be doing his live audio show as Wilma approaches on hurricanecity. Listen here

Marc Sudduth over at hurricanetrack.com is heading toward South Florida see some of his live streaming video and audio here

Hurricanenow - Former CNN hurricane Reporter Jeff Flock reports from the storm with video updates and live streaming
Weathervine.com storm chasers/video/audio
radioNHCWX (not affiliated with the real NHC)
Barometer Bob

WebCams
Royal Resorts Webcams in Cancun
The Royal Sands Animated WebCam (Flhurricane Mirrored)

Reply and let us know of other links.

Wilma

* NEW * Skeetobite Animated Model Graphic
South Florida Water Management District Animated model plot of Wilma - Static Image
Wilma Microwave Imagery Animation
Floater Satellite with storm track overlays
Weather Underground Model Plots
cimss page

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