I continue to hope this one will veer farther east, yet, and not ravage the entire coast of Florida, but this is the latest NOAA projection map. As you can see, by 2:00AM Monday morning, Irma is estimated to be arriving at Daytona Beach, Florida. Daytona is about 50 miles from us, and this huge storm is well over 100 miles wide. That means that we are very likely to get hurricane force winds Sunday night and into the day Monday. My son lives in Gainesville, about 100 miles north of us, and it appears they will have some really bad weather too, as Irma moves north.

It also appears Irma will be paying a visit to Charleston, S.C., by 2:00am Tuesday morning. My daughter and family live in Charleston. So, right now, this storm is bringing me nothing but worry! South Florida is in even more danger.

I continue to hope the storm will be downgraded long before it reaches us, but that’s by no means a sure thing.  Please keep everyone in Irma’s path in your thoughts and prayers. I’m a Florida native, and have seen more hurricanes than I can count over the years. I know the drill, and I take them VERY seriously. We prepare, and then wait to see if we are told to evacuate. So far, that has never happened to Mark and I, but if they tell us to go, we will.  This storm makes me very, very nervous.

Irma will be the sixth hurricane to threaten us since we moved into this house in 2004. FOUR of them either came directly over us, or very, very close in 2004 alone. This one is worse than any of those, and I’m praying it continues to move EAST–far, far away from the shoreline.  In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in harm’s way. PLEASE, fellow Floridians,  follow the advice given to folks in your area, and stay SAFE.