The northern eye wall of Hurricane Irma is going to impact Marco Island (the Southern point of Collier County), within the hour.  Now is the time to move into your interior safe room for those in Collier County.    Collier residents will have about 2 to 3 hours of peak damaging winds beginning  about 45 minutes from now.
At 200 PM EDT (1800 UTC), the center of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 25.6 North, longitude 81.8 West. Irma is moving toward the north near 12 mph (19 km/h), and a north-northwestward motion with a further increase in forward speed is expected later today, with that motion continuing through Monday.
On the forecast track, the center of Irma should move near or over the southwest and west coast of the Florida Peninsula later today through tonight. Irma should then move inland over northern Florida and southwestern Georgia Monday afternoon.
Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Irma is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. While weakening is forecast, Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane while it moves near or along the west coast of Florida. (link) (more…)

Today is a good opportunity to reference the conversations we have discussed about this in the lead up to today.  In 1960 Hurricane Donna drained the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers during her NE turn toward Jacksonville.   Ironically That was September 10th, 1960.  The tidal flows will play a role in the pending Storm Surge.
Tampa Bay, moments ago:

The top of the storm is moving water away from the gulf beaches and barrier islands in proportion to the timing of the tide.  However, all of that water -along with the water carried by the storm’s energy, will come back in with the backside of the storm.  And if that times with an incoming tide….  The results are a fast and widespread storm surge, even up river as all the water piles up.
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For those outside the SWFL area, NBC-2 is a local network with exceptional coverage of Hurricane Irma for Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties.  Also, now that Irma is close to the keys the NBC 250 mile radar sweep allows them to follow Irma via their own radar which is far more precise and up to the hour accurate.  NBC-2.Com Website HERE
They also have a livestream Youtube channel NBC2 News HERE (embedded below), and they are broadcasting 24/7 on the storm as she arrives.  This information is far more useful than Weather or National Channel’s.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

Smart move by the Trump administration, Rex Tillerson and Nikki Haley.  After showing the United Nations Security Council members the proposed resolution against North Korea last Tuesday, they are calling for a vote this Monday.
China and Russia are already on record saying additional economic sanctions would be needed; but also pushing the request for diplomatic talks more prominently.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States called for a vote Monday on a U.N. resolution that would impose the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea, a move that could lead to a showdown with the country’s biggest trading partner China and its neighbor Russia.
The Trump administration adopted a totally new approach with this resolution, circulating an American draft Tuesday and setting a vote six days later. With previous sanctions resolutions, the U.S. spent weeks and sometimes months negotiating the text with China and then presenting a resolution to the rest of the Security Council for a vote.
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Unfortunately the latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows another slight shift westward putting the South and Central West Coast of Florida in the path of immediate concern.  –ADVISORY UPDATE HERE–
If you’ve followed along you might have noticed the ‘worst case scenario’ for the West coast of Florida. –Outlined Here–  However, I want to draw your attention to the forecast timing; because there’s a remarkable synergy lining up with Hurricane Donna from 1960.  First here’s the latest NHC forecast map and times:

Timing is critical here.  Between the two “M”‘s [Max Winds] (2pm Sun, and 2am Mon) you might note the geography of the coastal community, shows an inlet.  That inlet is the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.  Also known as Punta Rassa.
During 1960 Hurricane Donna the Caloosahatchee River dropped significantly as a result of the powerful Westerly winds from approaching Donna and the local tide.   It looks like the exact same thing might happen again:
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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

“A man that hath friends must shewn himself friendly: and THERE is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

~ Proverbs 18:24