CHARLEY BECOMES A (CATEGORY 4 Now!!) HURRICANE (18 ft. storm surge)

NHC ^ | 08-13-2004 | Forecaster Lawrence

[gopwinsin04]

Ft. Meyers now getting hamered with the storm surge.

[commish]

Latest Radar is showing a jog back to the NNE now..looks like it is going straight into Charlotte Harbor and Port Charlotte.

[countess]

My dad is in Port Charlotte. I finally got through to him about an hour ago. He is only 6 feet above sea level, on a canal that goes out to the bay. He was ready for a storm, but not this. I hope he decided to move inland.

[HelgaHawk]

NOT funny.

[gathersnomoss]

What is Ian's ETA in Jacksonville?

[rwfromkansas]

I would go a bit higher than that....75-95 for Fort Myers.

But, I could be wrong. The wind distribution on the NHC is pretty narrow.

[grannie9]

We have a condo on Fort Myers Beach..luckily with storm shutters and a house in Cape Coral.. Omg.. I wonder what we well see later?

As far as I know all our friends are riding it out. If they have 18' storm surges the canal will be in our living room for sure.. :(

[Snowy]

Me too. I hope the Bubble Room survives.

I'm worried about Jerry the parrot! (he's the parrot who lives outside of Jerry's grocery store).

[Tuxedo]

I think there is a way to calculate the winds from a central pressure. Maybe the TPC has something on it. If it was 145 MPH at 965, then this baby should be a Cat 5 now.

[ApesForEvolution]

Has anyone made a call through to anyone, anywhere in the Port Charlotte /County in the last 15 minutes?

[Dog]

This could become a CAT 5..

[hawkaw]

I noticed that jog too

[mystery-ak]

My sister's 2nd home is on Sanibel Island...they were supposed to fly down today, they are flying in tomorrow...they don't know if they'll have a house left...they can't seem to find anything out.

[Pyro7480]

AT 3 PM EDT....1900Z...THE EYE OF HURRICANE CHARLEY WAS ESTIMATED NEAR LATITUDE 26.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 82.3 WEST OR ABOUT 25 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF FORT MYERS FLORIDA. THIS POSITION IS ALSO ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF THE WEST END OF SANIBEL ISLAND.

[Constitution Day]

Cats: The Other Other White Meat

[WoodstockCat]

I totally agree, the only thing that's going to slow the wind speed is the lack of water, get this thing on land before the gusts hit 180 or even higher.

[ApesForEvolution]

I can't get through to PC...what is the latest? Thx.

[Joe Brower]

REPORT FROM VENICE, FLORIDA (SARASOTA COUNTY) AS OF 1540 EST 040813:

Four miles inland. Rainfall is coming down much heavier now than it was half an hour ago, and the wind has increased as well. Gusts are going up to 25 mph.

WHOOPS! The power just died! Nope -- it's back again!

Gotta love the uninterruptable power supply. Looks like the fun is starting...

[rwfromkansas]

OH my.

That is not good at all.

With the eye off the coast just barely, it may continue to strengthen.

I am not sure about the water temps down there, but I would imagine they are more conducive to strengthening near the coast than if it was hitting around Tampa like it was originally progged.