Jeanne could be a cat 4 possibly at landfall.

[WXBUFFJIM]

A hurricane warning remains in effect for Florida's east coast from Florida City northward to St Augustine. A hurricane watch remains in effect for Florida and Georgia coasts from St. Augustine northward to Altamata, Georgia.

A tropical storm watch is in effect for the Florida Keys from 7 mile bridge northward up to the Florida City area including Florida Bay and Cape Sable. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the west coast of Florida from Cape Sable north to Anclote Key. A tropical storm watch is in effect from Ahclote Key northward to Suawannee River.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the northwest Bahamas. The eye of Jeanne is near the Abaco Island area right now. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the central Bahamas.

At 8 AM EDT this morning, the center of Hurricane Jeanne was located near latitude 26.5 north, longitude 77.0 west of very near the Abaco Islands. Movement is somewhat faster towards the west at near 14 mph. This motion is expected to continue for the next day or so.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 105 mph with higher gusts. Further strengthening is expected and Jeanne is expected to be a category 3 hurricane at least at landfall as I strongly indicate. However glancing at some information does reveal the possibility that we could see a category 4 instead and what that means is a 135-145 mph hurricane. Minimum central pressure is 957 mb at last report, but that is likely to fall quickly during the day today.

I must stress to folks along the eastern Florida coast from Volusia down through Miami Dade County that they need to get the heck out of those barrier islands and mobile homes. Frances was a cat 2 at landfall. To have a potentially deadly category 4 at landfall on Sunday morning with 135-145 mph winds are definitely gonna take it's toll on the barrier islands and low lying areas as well as mobile homes. The trees are already weakened by charley and Frances and there's alot of debris from previous hurricanes. That combined with the cat 4 intensity could just add more to the destruction. Best advice is to head into a sturdy shelter inland from the coast until this deadly hurricane passes by.

The timing of landfall is expected to occur around midnight tonight near the Melbourne and or Fort Pierce area. Intensity maybe jogged higher than a category 3 at landfall if we continue to see as much deepening as we're talking about this morning. Thus I'm leaning more towards a category 4 with 135-145 mph winds at landfall later tonite into early Sunday. Preparations should already be rushed to completion and evacuations are urged if you're asked to do so. We only got limited time to spare until tropical storm force winds hit the east Florida coast. From midday on, get ready for a wild ride.

Jim