[National Hurricane Center Link] Tropical Storm Ian has remained moving mostly westward throughout the previous 12 hours pushing the projected U.S. impact cone slightly further North into the big bend area of Florida. However, everyone on Florida’s west and gulf coast should pay close attention, and residents in Louisiana, Mississippi and the Alabama coast should not dismiss this storm.
With more favorable conditions for storm development, TS Ian is now projected to intensify and be a major hurricane prior to arrival on the west coast of Cuba. That is a significant shift in the intensity forecast. However, with the westward shift, the timeline is now delayed (see map below). All U.S. gulf coast residents should be taking precautions and preparing for potential storm impacts with a path still uncertain.
(NHC) At 1100 AM EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Ian was located near latitude 15.2 North, longitude 79.8 West. Ian is moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph (22 km/h). A turn toward the northwest at a similar forward speed is expected later today, followed by a north-northwestward motion on Monday and a northward motion on Tuesday with a slightly slower forward speed. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is forecast to pass well southwest of Jamaica today, and pass near or west of the Cayman Islands early Monday. Ian will then move near or over western Cuba Monday night and early Tuesday and emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. (more)

There is no cause for alarm, but with many new Florida residents’ officials are more firmly emphasizing preparation. Several FL Civilian Emergency Response Teams (CERT) are now preparing, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency – releasing additional responding resources. Take this storm seriously, but do not be alarmed; instead, take proactive steps to safeguard yourself and your family.
The westward storm movement has added one or two days to the projected U.S. landfall.
Proactively, do all your laundry. Bleach sanitize and air dry all your water storage containers including the bathtub, today. Do not panic if you cannot find bottled water. You can clean, sanitize and put a fresh garbage bag inside any trash can(s), then fill it/them with water from the shower. This is an old school FL cracker way to prepare for water shortages that I still do every time. Works like a charm. You can also manually flush toilets with buckets of water.
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