Matthew Skips Fort Lauderdale

It's an eerie Friday. A typical cloudy day, no rain. Roads are dry. And there are no cars on the road. Everything is closed. Nobody is working. It's like a snow day with no snow up North.

Yesterday we had a Tropical storm, which was no different than 100 other days we get every year here in South Florida. We were very lucky; Hurricane Matthew moved a little bit to the east and skipped Fort Lauderdale entirely.

Today we'll be watching the destruction of Matthew in our state all day. We should count our blessings that we weren't included among the victims.

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It looks like we dodged a bullet. Matthew is hanging east, and the current forecast has the eye passing through Freeport, a good 90 miles from Fort Lauderdale. If that's the case, then we probably won't see more than a Tropical Storm. Matthew should reach it's closest point at 8PM this evening. As of 2pm it's nothing more than a rainy day in South Florida.

Matthew at 8am.

Hurricane Matthew 10/6 8am

This photo is from 8AM on Thursday Morning. This was the 6AM photo:

Hurricane Matthew at 6am on 10/6/16

The good news is that they've moved the storm track slightly east.

Matthew has shifted slightly East, AWAY from Fort Lauderdale. It looks like we're going to get the western edge of the storm, which is a good thing for a couple of reasons. The big reason is that the most damaging part of a hurricane is northeast of the eye, and we'll be on the other side unless something changes dramatically. We will still see lots of wind and rain and at least gusts of hurricane level wind.

The most dangerous thing we face is an expected storm surge in Deerfield beach which could raise the water level 3-5 feet.

The FTL Airport will be closing at 10:30am due to the storm.

Things to Do

If you live in a flood area; Go somewhere else.

If you don't live in a flood area or in a new condo, bring in your outdoor furniture, find your candles, flashlights and matches and make sure you have enough water and food that doesn't need to be cooked (and that won't spoil easily) to last a couple of days.

Tip #1: Put large containers (and/or ziplog bags) filled with water into your freezer to create big blocks of ice. If we lose power, put a couple of the blocks into your refrigerator. Your refrigerator is the best insulated thing in your home, and that's where all of your food is. Very perishable stuff should be put on ice in a cooler or something smaller that will maintain a lower temperature for longer. With the power out, Keep the refrigerator closed. If you need something, get it out quickly. It will hold the cold a much longer time if you keep the door closed.

Tip#2: Cook. I'm baking bread, cooking chicken and cubing it, making hard boiled eggs. Eating defrosted TV dinners will keep you alive, but sandwiches and salads are much more appetizing when you can't cook. You can live on hard boiled eggs, salads and ham and cheese sandwiches very comfortably.

Tip#3: Put some of your food in the freezer. It will take a day to defrost, so you'll gain a day before it goes bad.