Ian is getting ready to make landfall at Port Charlotte, Florida. I’ve read reports that at least 100,000 Floridians have already lost power before official landfall. A bit of research shows that there’s about 800,000 people in that general area, less than the three million that live in Tampa, where Ian was initially forecast to come ashore 48 hours ago. I’ve read reports that it’s a category four hurricane, then reports it’s a category five. What category it is is now a moot point. Ian is a big, fat, destructive storm that will linger over western central Florida for anywhere from 24 to 36 hours.

Here’s another view of the storm, courtesy of the Washington Post ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/09/24/ian-storm-tracker-map/ ). The storm track and map are a lot clearer. Both tracks show Ian’s strength dropping drastically between Wednesday 8 pm and Thursday morning 8 am.

Right now there’s a steady light rain. There is a steady, light wind, with some gusting. The rain isn’t continuous. For example, it stopped long enough this morning for me to get the dogs outside to do there business, more than once. All the animals are anxious, and are clustering around the humans in the house. It’s not unusual to sit in my chair and have at least two lap cats, sometimes three. The others just find a very close spot to me and sit.

It’s not like I’m unaware of the rest of the world. I’m still reading about the Ukraine war, the sabotage of Nordstream 1 and Nordstream 2 in the Baltic Sea, the cratering in value of the British Pound and all that that implies, the far right political swing (again) in Italy, as well as all the continuing political shenanigans and legal gyrations that T**** and his minions are performing.

It’s moments like these that I feel like I’m living in a real-world version of the movie “Don’t Look Up.”

Update 2 pm

The Orlando mayor has requested that all non-essential surface traffic and travel end by this time. Ian is now tracking somewhere over, or very near, Orange County, Florida, where I live. The rain has stopped for at least an hour, but the winds are slowly rising. Ian’s eye wall has come ashore at Fort Myers, Florida, south of Punta Gorda. Winds are 155 mph, category four.

What a difference 24 hours makes. In yesterday’s post the National Hurricane Center had Ian making landfall at (or near) Cedar Key, north of Tampa. Tonight Ian’s path has changed drastically such that it now looks like it will make landfall south of Tampa around Punta Gorda, about half way between Sarasota and Fort Myers. Then it seems to head north-north-east. If it keeps to the current forecast track then it will deliver misery to Jacksonville and the Savannah/Brunswich Georgia area, and maybe even Charleston, South Carolina.

At this point in time all we can do is wait. The rain forecast was been pushed back a good six hours; it was supposed to arrive at 1pm, instead arriving around 7pm. Right now it’s a very light drizzle, and there’s no wind blowing. It’s quiet, and a bit eerie. My wife and I have taken care of all that we can, including getting all our medications refilled. I have water on hand, and plenty of other supplies, especially for the animals. All we can do now is wait and ride it out when Ian finally arrives.