Ramblings' Journal

Don't let your guard down yet, Ivan's on the way...

While Florida and the Southeast is dealing with Hurricane Frances, that sigh of relief when the skies clear shouldn't come yet.

Out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Ivan is intensifying, and on the move.

Ivan is already up to a Category Four storm, and headed westward. Hurricane Watches for the Windward Islands have been raised as of this evening.

Hurricane Ivan grew to hurricane strength during the morning with top sustained wind of nearly 85 mph, and by early afternoon it already was a Category 3 hurricane with top sustained wind of 111 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was about 995 miles east of the Windward Islands, or more than 2,000 miles east-southeast of Miami, too far away to tell with any certainty whether it would hit the continental United States, the Hurricane center said.

However, the center's map projections suggested a path across the Antilles and Hispaniola, possibly reaching Cuba about Friday.

And after being struck by the back-to-back hurricanes Charley and Frances, Floridians should monitor the storm, forecasters said.

Ivan was moving west at about 21 mph and was expected to turn gradually toward the west-northwest.

As of this evening, Ivan has sustained winds of 125 MPH. On it's prsent course and speed, it will be on South Florida's doorstep by this time next week.

Those of you in South Florida might want to think twice about taking down their storm shutters as Frances moves on.

Posted by mhking at September 5, 2004 04:50 PM