and the surge toward the east. so this is why this life-threatening situation is going to be upon us, and still looks like landfall will be sometime mid afternoon. let s say 3:00, 5:00, 6:00 p.m. but the warnings lift well into southern parts of georgia. the tropical storm force warnings go into south carolina. but, again, the surge from panama city to apalachicola as high as 8 to 9 feet. 12 feet over the suwanee river. this is the time of the year where the tides are highest, king tides and they keep that in their thinking when they put out the warnings. here is now the official track. has not changed much. we still have michael moving due north at 12 miles per hour. that, wolf, remains the same. and it still looks like our impact area will be pretty much at panama city. panama beach. that includes destiny and ft. walton beach, but really to the east now, where that storm surge on that deadly right end quadrant here on that eastern
high-rise. an airplane is in the srm right now, it is flying around and just found 102-mile-per-hour win gusts. this is what the radar is going to look like over the next few hours, all the way to midnight tonight. showers on shore in apalachicola, outer bands coming on shore at 6:00 or company tonight. the wind problem is going to be the issue here. 120-mile-per-hour storm as it s over very warm water right now. nothing really tearing it apart and making land fall must or minus noon two hours, and plus or miles 30 miles east or west of panama city. the winds will get there tonight, though. if there is a bridge, like the manager said there actually, one of the congressmen said, if there is a bridge you have to get over we need to get over it before we got the ts, before it is 45-mile-per-hour winds.
the president appears to be using kavanaugh s confirmation as a campaign boost for republicans as tacking democrats as quote evil people for what he calls disgraceful treatment of his nominee. we will get to that in jemt. we want to begin with cnn meteorologist chad myers with the latest track on the hurricane. what are you seeing? there is a hurricane hunter aircraft in the storm right now flying through the eye at 7,000 feet high. it just found a wind gust of 102 miles per hour. that s the highest gust we have seen, and also found a lower pressure than we have seen with this storm. yes, it is getting stronger, as expect. it is 90 miles per hour right now in the middle. it will eventually get to be a 120-mile-per-hour storm as it makes its approach to panama city,port st. joe, along the wind mark condos and houses n the apalachicola area. it is going to be a wider storm
than the five mile focus. that s the center, where the wind gusts will be the strongest. there is going to be storm surge with this. you are not going to be able to do much by tomorrow morning because we will already see sustained tropical storm force wind by 6:00,al a.m. you need to get everything done today. make the preps and get out if you are told to get out. it approaches as a ts, just a tropical storm. but there are the category 3 winds in that ball that will make land fall along the florida panhandle. wind gusts all the way to north carolina at 45 miles per hour as well knocking down trees and power lines in the meantime. here s, though, the big story. apalachicola all the way to cedar key you are going to have a 12 foot surge, eight to 12 foot right here into the bays and estuaries. not a lot of people live here. i have been to st. marks when ivan surmged there.
edge will flood the big ben area. now, around the apalachicola area, it s a nature coast. which is good news. that can take a little bit of the brunt of this, because there s not much in the way of population there. but the heavy rains and these winds will stay intact well inland, could knock out power over 1 million people and stays strong as we go through the carolinas. so, again, it will lose some strength, but the core of these winds, wolf, are going to be strong enough to knock out a lot of trees from panama city to tallahassee, up into southern georgia, and the streak of that rainfall will continue through the carolinas. the last place they need it. it wasn t just a day or so ago, a tropical storm, and then a category 1, category 2, and now category 3, and you say it s possible, given the warm waters of the gulf, it could wind up a category 4. although right now that doesn t look to be the case. did all of this creep up on the experts very quickly? because i m a little worried