Deteriorate overnight. i want to show you on our graphics, because hurricane idalia is really starting to get its ability together and what i mean by this is notice that kind of spiral wrapping around the storm system, that is indicating that it is starting to become more organized, it is strengthening, deepening, exactly what we anticipated because it is fueling itself off of the record warm water temperatures across the eastern gulf of mexico that sits directly over my shoulder. here is the latest radar information. and you can see the initial rain bands that have already impacted key west, 50-mile-per-hour wind gusts there earlier today, choppy waves on the water. and that is several hundred miles away from the center of where idalia is located. so my point being that the impacts will be felt well outside of where this storm actually makes landfall. so very key, very important. ft. myers getting some hefty thunderstorms right now. there was a tornado warning near marco island earlie
Guidance. florida disaster.org, ready.gov, all have great information about preparedness kits, what you should have to take care of your family, you your loved ones and pets. we enconcern urge to take it seriously and listen to the guidance. and if folks are looking for the latest information on the storm and they are saying as folks sometimes do, you know what, i don t have to go, i ll be fine where i am, what would you say? unfortunately we hear that from time to time. i know you had directory brennan on earlier. right now category 3 is forecasted undergoing additional rapid intensification. but it is not just the wind that people should be concerned about. it is the storm surge pup we ll see up to 10 to 12 feet of storm surge in certain areas. and so while homes can be rebuilt and power lines restrung, we want to ensure that everyone is safe riding out the storm.
Desantis has stepped away from his presidential campaign to deal with the storm that has its eye trained on his state. but the political optics of hanging a hurricane come with high stakes as you can imagine. we have steve contorno live for us in st. petersburg. steve, tell us how desantis is tailoring his message. reporter: no florida governor would ever suggest that hurricane is an opportunity to showcase your leadership style. but they certainly have a track record of doing just that. you look at a governor like jeb bush who had to two years worth of deadly storms hitting the state he faced eight hurricanes over that stretch. and he is remembered quite fondly here for that time that he spent and how he navigated the storms. of course one of those storms was hurricane katrina and his brother president george bush, people look at his presidency much different because of how he handled that storm.
Makes landfall? well, we are forecasting rapid intensification. we ve actually improved our ability to make those types of forecasts. we would not have been able to forecast this type of strengthening five or ten years ago, but we have better tools and better understanding of how hurricanes work, better models. and we re able to try to forecast this type of strengthening. it does make it difficult because even if we get the forecast right, people may still be looking at a system that yesterday this was just a tropical storm and people may think that why do i need to take action or evacuate for this. so when you have a rapidly developing and strengthening storm heading for land and reaching land at its peak intensity, there can always be a lag in how people respond and take being a. so we try to get the message out that you have to get ready.bein. so we try to get the message out that you have to get ready. another factor to add to the mix is the moon. can you explain exactly why th
To our viewers here, we have a mesoscale discussion talking about the tornadoes continuing through the overnight period. and isolated tornadoes, this is a big storm to watch here. derek, carlos, thank you both. joining us now, mayor of gainesville, florida, harvey ward. thanks for joining us. thank you for having me. so gainesville of course not on the coast, it is inland, and this storm will cross the state of florida. so i wonder what kind of dangers from the storm you are preparing for most now. as you heard governor desantis say, we are going to have impacts outside the cone. so i worry when people pay too much attention to exactly where the cone is. the national weather service tells us that even though we may not be inside the cone he, we have a 93% chance of sustained