unclear exactly where ian could hit the rest. forecasters say if tampa takes a direct hit, it could be like nothing seen in this lifetime. in neighboring st. petersburg, the mayor there says it could be the storm they hoped would never come. across the state, people are gassing up, emptying shelves and filling sandbags. we have live team coverage. let s get right to our meteorologist tom saider for the latest timing impacts. tom. we have a lot to talk about and it s going to continue to change in the next couple of days, and it very slightly, 20 mile an hour shift in the eye means everything in florida. typically we have an icon over the center, but we took it away so we can start to see the bright colors of purple. so that convective activity is showing near the center. we re about 100 miles to the west of the cayman islands, south of the western tip of cuba. i want to show you the radar. this is the cayman islands. you can seat the pin wheel effect starting to see the eye
to put up with. that is it for us and the evening captioning sponsored by cbs o donnell: tonight, sticker shock in america. prices rise at the fastest level in nearly four decades. from bacon and eggs to furniture americans are paying more, especially at the grocery store. where prices are emptying wallet ad supply chain issues are emptying shelves. when will it end? free covid tests for schools: the biden administration s new initiative to keep kids in the classroom as dr. fauci gives a blunt warning about the omicron strain. virtually everybody is going to wind upetng exposed and likely get infected. o donnell: school shooting suspect in court: the disturbing new details. what the 15-year-old michigan student allegedly brought to school in the weeks leading up to the rampage.
island. the mayor there anticipates there will be a mandatory evacuation of all the barrier islands, especially miami beach. it hasn t happened yet but he encouraged people to get started. as we get closer to friday and saturday, traffic will be crazy throughout the state. i know that people are emptying shelves at basically every grocery store and home depot. i tried to get cases of water last night. completely empty. everything cleaned out. it is happening in gainesville, orlando and tampa as all of these forecast models show this storm making a northbound turn and basically impacting the entire state. but right now south florida bracing for something they haven t seen in a long, long time. it has been 25 years since hurricane andrew and reportedly meteorologists are saying with 185 mile-an-hour winds
been since it was completed in 1884. the new height is a result of the change in the spot where the measurement is taken. those are some of the top stories on this fat tuesday, february 17th. announcer: from abc news, this is world news now. all right. well, let s begin this half hour with the latest storm and the unbearable cold. menacing 90 million americans this morning. here we go again winter storm warnings in effect in 20 states and washington, d.c. where the snow is already coming down. federal offices shut down and there may be many school closings and delays for the entire northeast with more than a half foot of snow on the way. shoppers in virginia were scrambling to stock up on food and supplies before the storm hit. emptying shelves at many grocery stores. the governor of virginia declared a state of emergency saying the storm could result in widespread power outages that could last for days. that storm moved in from the south where many roads were