Big Wilma

Extropolated pressure measurements at 10,000 feet recorded a measurement of 881mb when Wilma bottomed out this morning. Thats an 85mb drop in approximately 12 hours, yet another record. Wilma is now big enough to create its own weather pattern, so forecasting the final destination of this storm is going to get more difficult. The NHC is still calling for a landfall in South Florida. In my opinion, evacuations should already be started, but so far only visitors are being asked to leave the Florida keys with residents being asked to evacuate at 6am on Friday. I guess the state and local governments aren't yet sold that the storm is headed their way. Wait til the images from the Florida turnpike start to come in on Friday, I predict more scenes ala Houston. Maybe they just want to cut this evacuation as close as possible. I hope people are taking this situation into their own hands and making decisions for themselves. Although Wilma will not maintain Cat 5 status when it hits Florida, it could be a Cat 4. This would mean widespread extended power outages and structural damage to a large number of homes and buildings. The 18z model runs are starting to come in showing some even crazier forecast paths. We will update later as more of these model runs come in this afternoon.

SCM