~Hurrincane Matthew~

Storm Stats

Matthew is now a major hurricane moving slowly through the carribean.  There is sure to be decrement in strength as he moves over Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas.  Still, Matthew is expected to be a powerful storm while paralleling the Florida coast. Matthew is the lowest latitude category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin on record according to the weather channel.  As of this evening Matthew has peak winds of 124 knots.  The central pressure is at 940mb, and Matthew has a 15 nautical mile wide eye.

Surf Forecast (Thurs. & Fri)

The surf may get chest high or better behind this storm.  It is possible that we may see larger surf if the wind points enough from the northwest. Friday morning should be about the same as Thursday evening, only slighly lighter onshore winds.  The surf drops off in size Friday afternoon.

Seas Forecast

Wednesday night the winds go north, and the seas increase to 4-6 foot. Thursday north winds reach 20 knots with seas at 5-7. Thursday night the winds begin to diminish. Friday north winds reach 15 knots generating 5-7 foot seas. With these high seas forecasts you would expect the surf to be head high or larger, but the wind direction is almost northeast, so most of the high surf will be headed out into the gulf.

Winds

The winds are going to be breezy, but West Florida will probably not be seeing any tropical storm or hurricane strength winds.  The winds are expected to peak at 20 knots, just over 20 miles per hour overnight on Thursday.

Adverse Weather

As this storm makes its way along the Florida coast it should stay far enough offshore not to impact Florida all that much.  The rain chances remain at around 50 percent.  We are expecting zero adverse wind impacts.  Storm surge and beach erosion along the east coast is a certainty.  Mild gulf coast wave induced erosion is also possible.  There is the potential for direct storm related impacts later this week.