Been crazy busy today - didn't even check the interwebz until an hour ago. Anyway, here's the note I just sent out. Might be a little late, but some might be interested.
Hopefully, given the vast public attention on the storm’s impact on the Bahamas and imminent impact on FL (and GA/SC/NC), everyone is generally up on Matthew, so this note is more to provide a few insights about the storm.
Currently, Freeport and Grand Bahama Island are being crushed by the eyewall of Matthew and its 130 mph winds (fortunately down a bit from today’s 140 mph wind max), although 130 mph is still low end Cat 4 strength, as it approaches the FL coast. Looks like points from about West Palm Beach on southward will be spared the worst effects, as the storm is currently 70 miles east of WPB and won’t get any closer, so they’ll barely get any hurricane force gusts, as hurricane force winds only extend 60 miles out from the storm’s center (tropical storm force winds, i.e., 39-73 mph, extent out about 185 miles).
It looks like the worst effects of the storm will be felt from about Fort Pierce on northward, as Matthew should be within 25 miles of Fort Pierce as it nears the FL coast, such that the western edge of the eyewall, the area of most intense winds and precipitation banding will reach the immediate coast. Matthew will then ride up the Florida coast edging closer and closer to landfall, until it likely makes landfall somewhere around Melbourne, with Cape Canaveral (which houses the Kennedy Space Center), which juts out about 10 miles into the Atlantic, being the most likely place for landfall and the absolute worst conditions.
Unfortunately, unlike most storms that make landfall and plow inland, weakening considerably once the warm core energy source (the ocean) is lost, this storm will have its center either just off the coast or barely on the coast/inland for possibly a few hundred miles, only weakening slowly, leading to major to catastrophic impacts over a far larger area than 99% of hurricanes – Matthew could still be a 115 mph hurricane when it reaches as far north as Jacksonville, which would make it the first major hurricane to hit there since 1898. In fact, this track is unprecedented in FL history for a major hurricane, as every other “coastal scraper” was much weaker than Matthew.
While the winds are what people often think of as the most damaging part of a hurricane, the storm surge is, by far, the most dangerous part of any storm, as ~90% of deaths occur due to flooding/storm surge – and this track, with a relatively slow moving (13 mph) powerful storm, is the worst outcome possible, as we’ll see major to historic storm surges of 5-10 feet from at least Fort Pierce to Jacksonville and even into coastal GA and SC (the storm will not come very close to the NC coast). Given how much of the FL coast is at elevations of <10 feet, coastal flooding will likely be major to historic for much of FL and GA (and very significant for SC, although not as bad as for previous storms, like Hugo).
Needless to say, this is a dangerous to life-threatening storm for anyone in the warning areas (north of West Palm) and especially for anyone within 10-20 miles of the coast all the way up to GA. Further inland will still see hurricane force wind gusts and major rains (10” or more anywhere within 20 miles of the coast and 5-10” further inland). There could be significant flooding from rainfall almost anywhere in Florida. Last but not least, there is the risk of tornadoes near the coast, although the one plus of a storm paralleling the coast is that the tornado threat is much less than normal, since tornadoes usually form in the right front quadrant (NE quadrant for this storm), which is mostly offshore for Matthew.
Beyond Florida and GA, Matthew looks to keep paralleling the SC coast, although it will likely be a bit weaker (90 mph or less) and a bit offshore (25-50 miles, although that could change) from the GA/SC line to Charleston, so hopefully those areas will be spared the worst winds and storm surges. After that, it really looks like the storm will do close to a full loop-de-loop, as originally forecast by the Euro, first two days ago, arriving back in the Bahamas and close to South Florida at Day 5, although as a weak tropical storm – and the uncertainty on the track at that point is very high. One little tidbit: there's also Hurricane Nicole meandering around south of Bermuda (85 mph winds) and as Matthew does its loop, they'll likely be close enough for the Fujiwhara Effect to come into play at least for awhile, where two tropical systems tend to rotate around a common midpoint. Always fun to see.
Crazy stuff. And the best news, probably, is my dad, with a little prodding, evacuated his house in Vero Beach to stay with friends well inland. :>)
Some good links…
https://www.wunderground.com/blog/J...-potentially-disastrous-matthew-rolls-toward-
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/154742.shtml?5day#contents
https://www.americanwx.com/bb/topic/48950-category-4-major-hurricane-matthew/?page=116