According to the 8am Atlantic time- 7am Eastern- update from the National Hurricane Center, Irma looks ready to strengthen into a Category 5 storm. That Cat 5 rating could potentially come within the next 24 hours. If it does become a Category 5, Irma will be just the 32nd storm in history to have that designation and just the second to threaten the United States since Wilma in 2005. Gov. Rick Scott has already issued a state of emergency for all of Florida’s 68 counties. Some forecast tracks have the storm running the length of the state, making landfall in the Keys, then moving onto the mainland south of Fort Myers, then essentially riding up an I-75 track into north Florida before going back out to sea north of Jacksonville. As of that 7am update, the center of Irma sat anout 280 miles east of the Leeward Islands, with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, with gusts measured as high as 185 miles per hour and moving due west at 18 miles per hour.
