Hurricane Ian hit western Cuba on Tuesday morning as a Category 3 storm. It’s forecast to reach Florida’s Gulf Coast by Thursday before traveling overland and reaching Georgia by Saturday and South Carolina Sunday.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), “life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, flash floods and possible mudslides are expected in portions of western Cuba.” In addition, “devastating wind damage is expected” where the core of Hurricane Ian moves.
Looking ahead, life-threatening storm surge from Fort Myers to Tampa Bay are possible. Hurricane-force winds are expected in the region of Florida as early as Wednesday morning. Heavy rainfall will hit the Florida Keys and south Florida on Tuesday, spreading to central and northern Florida Wednesday and Thursday. “Considerable flooding” is expected across central Florida, southern Georgia and coastal South Carolina.
The latest: According to Weather.com, Ian is currently centered over western Cuba and is moving north with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. The storm’s strength is expected to pick up as it travels across the Gulf but will slow down a bit before reaching the Florida coast. That said, winds could still be upwards of 120mph through Thursday morning.
Hurricane Ian is the ninth named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. Just last week, another major storm (Category 3 or higher), Hurricane Fiona, hit such Caribbean islands as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos before turning north and passing over Bermuda en route to Canada. A Reuters report says that Fiona was “one of the worst storms Canada has ever faced [and] left more than one-third of customers in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia without power.”
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