Matt-hurricanewatcher wrote:Patrick99 wrote:DrStorm wrote:So pretty much everything South of Maples on the West side of the FL coast is just empty wetlands right? That may turn out to be best possible scenario then?
Most of it, yes....there is the small town of Everglades City and village of Chokoloskee, but they are sparsely populated. South of Naples, that's the 10,000 Islands region....a near impenetrable maze of mangrove islands. Not a whole lot there.
She's getting that "donut" back.
I think it could become a cat4 before landfall...130 to 135 mph. In the data supports more like 120 to 125 mph now.
Well, I don't have my own opinion on this either way, but the NHC does. This is from their latest advisory. Guess they aren't expecting it to gain anymore strength from here on out, perhaps because of the large eye.
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"Maximum sustained winds are near 115 mph...185 km/hr...with higher
gusts. Wilma is a category three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson
scale. Little change in strength is expected until landfall occurs
...And Wilma will likely make landfall as a category 3 hurricane.
Some slow weakening is forecast as Wilma crosses the southern
Florida Peninsula... but the hurricane is forecast to still be a
significant category two hurricane by the time the center reaches
the Florida East Coast early Monday afternoon."""
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