By now, the center line model has it really staying low and away, touching Cuba and then skirting by Key West and into the Gulf. That's the middle of the bunch model, which is saying that Ike is somehow magically going to go thru the straits of Florida and into the Gulf, staying over water virtually all the way.
As for filming, you can get that from the Weather Channel. It's not really something that I even find entertaining.
Describing any of the 3 or 4 Hurricanes that I stayed thru. Daytime was grey, rainy and windy, but really where I am here nothing more than a bad thunder and lightning rain storm couldn't produce. Th eparking lot water level has actually been worst in a non-hurricane storm at this particular location.
Back in 2004 (Frances & Jeannie) and 2005 (Katrina, Rita and Wilma) have been the worst of what I stayed for in South Florida/North Miami Beach. Of those 5 the worst for my specific location was Wilma. That was no power for 6 days, Cable outage for 2 weeks. But even for Wilma, in between the buildings all hell was breaking loose. My apartment faces the parking lot and it's to the East. Since Wilma came across West to East the first 20-30 feet from my patio, the leaves on the bushes hardly moved on the East. The West side of the building shielded me, so while Wilma was raging and tearing everything up on the West side of the westerly side of my building, I hardly even noticed it. To the North and South, the other 2 buildings absorbed any of that and the East. you'd have to have gone easily a few hundred yards before you could see any adverse effect from the storm. Wilma was a non-issue for wind & rain. It hit my neighborhood around 7:30 AM. I slept thru most of it after staying up to see what it was about. The worst part was the damage beyond my apartment complex that made 6 days of no electricity suck.
The other 2004/2005 hurricanes, those were the more traditional East to West storms. Frances & Jeannie were the Port St Lucie hits and since I was on the bottom side of those and a good 80 miles South, I've had thunderstorms produce more havoc and fury.
Katrina and Rita, those were really Key West and straits of Florida storms like Ike is proposed to be. Those weren't too bad either for me. But worse than Frances & Jeannie. as I recall for Katrina & Rita, those the power was out a day or two at worst.
As for Hurricane Ike ? Currently, the locals & tourists are forced evacs Saturday, Sunday and even Monday. So I pack tonight and beat those people out of South Florida for my evacuation trip to Jacksonville, FL. The parking lot that is Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach is really the biggest hurdle and i'll tackle it around 3-4 AM (in a few hours as it's 12 midnight Friday here). Once to Jupiter and further North, you can do 80 mph, until you get to Sebastian Inlet and then to Titusville/Cocoa Beach before you encounter bad traffic and retards that can't drive when the sun is shining. Traffic normally moves well after Titusville (Highway 50) thru and beyond Daytona Beach to Flagler Palm Coast. Southerly side of St Augustine thru Jacksonville and you're back to the typical Floridiot driver though. By sunrise Saturday AM I expect to be at least at Daytona Beach.
I don't expect my place to get hit too hard here, but I don't intend to be around to find out how hard.
