When will Manatee start feeling Hurricane Ian? Region under a warning as Cat 4 approaches
This article tracking Hurricane Ian is available for free as a public service to all readers.
Hurricane Ian, now a Category 4 storm that is just shy of Cat 5 strength, has already dropped several inches of rain in Manatee County, which is under a hurricane and storm surge warning like much of the state’s Gulf Coast.
Manatee County will be feeling Ian’s heavy rains and powerful hurricane-force winds Wednesday as the storm approaches the state’s Gulf Coast.
By Friday morning, Manatee County could see a total of 12 to 13 inches of rain, with some isolated areas possibly seeing up to 20 inches of rain, the weather service said. A flood watch remains in effect through at least Thursday night. Forecasters expect Ian’s stormy conditions over Manatee County will start to dissipate Thursday night and Friday.
Shortly after turning into a Cat 4, Ian rapidly strengthened and now has maximum sustained winds near 155 mph with higher gusts, putting it on the cusp of Category 5 strength, according to the National Hurricane Center. To be a Cat 5, Ian needs to have maximum sustained winds of at least 157 mph.
Forecasters say Ian is an extremely dangerous hurricane that is forecast to whip Florida with catastrophic winds, flooding rain and life-threatening storm surge.
Ian was about 60 miles west of Naples and about 65 miles southwest of Punta Gorda, as of the hurricane center’s 10 a.m. update. The storm is moving north-northeast near 10 mph. It’s a large storm. Hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force wind extend up to 175 miles.
Ian could make landfall as a Cat 4 storm Wednesday afternoon somewhere between Fort Myers and Sarasota. This entire stretch of the Gulf Coast is under a hurricane warning. The storm’s center is heading in the direction of Port Charlotte, as of the hurricane center’s 8 a.m. forecast. Devastating wind damage is expected near the storm’s core.
Ian is forecast to slow down to a crawl ahead of its Florida landfall, which is bad news for a state that is under several warnings and watches. This gives the storm more time to soak the state with heavy rain and storm surge.
The National Hurricane Center in a 9 a.m. update said it expects the most storm surge, 12 to 18 feet, will be along Southwest Florida’s coast from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbor. Chokoloskee to Bonita Beach could see 8 to 12 feet of storm surge. And from east Cape Sable to Chokoloskee, 5 to 8 feet of storm surge is possible.
The hurricane center also expects “catastrophic wind damage” will affect the southwestern coast of Florida over the next few hours where the core of Ian will make landfall.
Once Ian makes landfall, some weakening is expected, with the forecast showing it moving over Central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning. It is then expected to emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday as a tropical storm and is forecast to make a turn toward Georgia and South Carolina.
This story was originally published September 28, 2022 at 6:40 AM.
