Here's the 8am cone report for Sat, 08/31/2019. Hopefully, we here in Tampa Bay may just squeeze by with minimal winds/flooding. But it's bad news for my Aunt and cousin up in SE Georgia, near Jacksonville. They may have to EVAC to South Carolina, Although I don't know if that may help at all.
145 mph winds. Expecting ten inches of rain from Miami to Tampa. Tropical storm winds start tonight/tomorrow. I'm at work and just heard that over the radio.
"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted."
At no point has the NOAA ever said there was more than a 50/50 chance of hurricane force winds hitting Florida. Now, the possibility of hurricane force winds hitting Florida are back down below 30%.
If you look at the NOAA forecast advisory, you'll see that this is a very small storm. Those 145 mph winds are only in the eye wall and the eye is only 15 miles across. If you get outside the eye by more than 10 miles, it only has tropical storm winds.
Looking at coastal radars, there aren't even any rain bands visible, just scattered showers. This storm has been mostly hype right from the start.