The highest wind measurement for Michael at Tyndall AFB was 219 and someone said the equipment stopped functioning at that point. It was also a cat 2 storm right up to the last little bit. There was a band of warm water right on the beach that shot it right up to “5” as it came ashore. One of the shrimp boat captains here who had been on the Gulf and the Carribean for thirty+ years called it spot on when the storm was still SE of the tip of Florida. He told all the yacht owner that were around the marina where I work to get their boats the hell out of there and take their boats west. Only a couple of them did. The owners mostly said Pshaw, I’ve been through Eloise and Opel and Ivan and it was okay. Karl said this one will be different. It was.
If it weren’t for the geniuses amongst us, we simpletons would all be washed away, wouldn’t we?
The ‘catastrophic’ storm is gusting at 220 mph
Meanwhile a reporter will step out into the wind to report then WHAM! a stop sign hits them..... : )
On Monday, October 8th 2018 a frantic guy walked into the convenience store here on Cape San Blas, due south of Mexico Beach. Like a mystic, he told the owner to shut down the store and get the heck out. At that time, Michael was Cat 1 off the western tip of Cuba.
We missed catastrophe by just a few miles. The pressure gradient between my home and the eastern eye wall as it passed only ten miles away was one inch of mercury.
People who slough off Cat 3+ storms don’t know WTF they’re doing.