THEY'RE NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES IN CORAL GABLES

During the past 24 hours the path of Tropical Storm Ernesto has been moved farther to the north, which makes any landfall along the Florida coast likely near or around Miami. Of course, predicting how strong it will be is still a complicated matter and is dependent on it's interaction with the Cuban coast. I found it interesting that in the discussion as of 5:00 AM ET it notes that:

"IF ERNESTO EMERGES SOONER AND A LITTLE FARTHER NORTH OFF THE COAST OF CUBA...THEN THE CYCLONE WILL HAVE MORE TIME TO STRENGTHEN OVER VERY WARM SSTS OF 86-88F AND IN A VERY FAVORABLE UPPER-LEVEL FLOW REGIME. THE SHIPS INTENSITY MODEL IS FORECASTING NEAR-ZERO VERTICAL WIND SHEAR...JUST AS ERNESTO IS APPROACHING THE SOUTHERN FLORIDA PENINSULA IN 48 HOURS. THESE CONDITIONS WOULD FAVOR THE POSSIBILITY OF ERNESTO BECOMING A CATEGORY 2 OR EVEN A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE BEFORE MAKING LANDFALL ALONG THE FLORIDA COAST."

Here in the Tampa Bay area, the locals have been stocking up, visiting home improvement stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot to make sure they are prepared for whatever happens. Can't let your guard down now.