FEELING THE IMPACT

Hurricane Wilma has made landfall along the Gulf Coast near Naples, and the pictures coming out of there are simply amazing. It always makes one awestruck to watch the force of nature.

I'm in Lakeland, about 150 miles north, and it has been raining all night. The wind gusts occasionally, and as I was beginning this post a moment ago I heard something being blown off a neighbour's balcony during one of those gusts. At Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in the south part of the city, winds are sustained at 23 MPH with gusts to 30. Gilbert Field in nearby Winter Haven is reporting sustained winds of 28 MPH with gusts to 43.

It sounds like by reading the NHC discussion at 5:00 AM that they are a bit surprised that Wilma has intensified more before landfall, when it was a high end Catagory 3 storm. The thought had been a Catagory 2 or low end 3:

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 120 MPH...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. WILMA IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME WEAKENING IS LIKELY AS WILMA CROSSES THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA TODAY.

Looking out from my balcony a moment ago, it looks like it's midnight. Normally at this hour the light of day would begin to show itself, but the heavy cloud cover keeps that nighttime feeling.

For those looking for detailed coverage, check out:

Fort Myers News-Press Naples Daily News Miami Herald South Florida Sun Sentinel

Hope the folks down in South Florida are hangin' in there.