Hurricane Ian Update: Storm Strengthening to ‘Dangerous’ Category 4 Heading for Florida

President Joe Biden called the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Florida, all in the Tampa Bay area, to discuss hurricane preparations.

Biden approved an emergency declaration in anticipation of Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida and urged residents to heed evacuation warnings.

“This could be a very severe hurricane, life-threatening and devastating in its impact,” the president said at the White House on Tuesday.

The US National Hurricane Center issued its latest update at 2 pm ET Tuesday with the main finding that Ian was becoming stronger in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Ian is moving north at about 10 mph (17 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue today, forecasters said.

A turn to the north-northeast with a reduction in forward speed is forecast overnight Tuesday through Wednesday. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to move over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico today, pass west of the Florida Keys later tonight, and approach the west coast of Florida within the Florida Warning Area. hurricane Wednesday and Wednesday night.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Ian is a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to strengthen later today through Wednesday. Ian is forecast to approach the west coast of Florida as an extremely dangerous large hurricane.

The full report can be found here.

Hurricane Ian has slammed into Cuba like a major storm.

Ian made landfall at 4:30 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday in the Cuban province of Pinar del Río, where authorities set up 55 shelters, evacuated 50,000 people, dispatched emergency personnel and took steps to protect crops in the main region. tobacco producer in the country.

The US National Hurricane Center said “significant wind and storm surge impacts” occurred Tuesday morning in western Cuba. Ian hit with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). Up to 14 feet (4.3 meters) of storm surge was forecast along the coast of Cuba.

Ian was predicted to become even stronger during warm waters of the Gulf of Mexicoreaching maximum winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) as it approaches the southwest coast of Florida.

Waves were already breaking at the famed southernmost point of the United States early Tuesday afternoon when bands from Hurricane Ian began to impact Florida.

Social media videos of waves crashing against the boardwalk were shared.

As of noon Tuesday (EST), the storm was moving at 10 mph over Havana in the direction of key West with maximum sustained winds around 115 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show a plane flying into the eye of Hurricane Ian as it approaches Florida over the Caribbean.

Hurricane hunters are pilots who fly into tropical storm systems to collect data and monitor the weather.

NASA has reported a small fire in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday morning, but says the Artemis I rocket was “not at risk.”

The agency had to move the rocket indoors over the weekend as Hurricane Ian moves toward the state. The planned liftoff earlier this month was canceled after mechanical problems.

The Kennedy Space Center is on Florida’s Atlantic coast and strong winds and rain are forecast after the hurricane hits the other side of the state and moves east.

Orlando International Airport announced that commercial service will stop at 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday as Hurricane Ian moves inland.

The airport asked passengers to refer to their individual airlines for flight status.

The Orlando area will not face the worst of the storm, but will still see significant potential for wind, rain and flooding as it moves from the coast beginning Wednesday morning.

The center of Hurricane Ian is currently over Cuba, but the storm is already starting to bring rain to parts of Florida before making landfall later Tuesday into Wednesday morning.

The storm is hundreds of miles wide, and satellite images have captured some of the shocking size as it swallows the Gulf of Mexico in wind and rain clouds.