Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made landfall in Elbow Cay at 12:45pm with max sustained winds of 185mph.  Catastrophic conditions expected to spread across the Abacos.

With max sustained winds of 185mph, Dorian is now even stronger than Hurricane Andrew was when it made landfall in South Florida in 1992.  Dorian has been travelling Westward for the last 24 hours and continues to slow down with every update received.  This is terrible news for our friends in the Bahamas as it will take days for this storm to exit the area.  The latest forecast track shows Dorian eventually taking a turn towards the NW, with the possibility of remaining offshore as it moves North hugging the East coast of Florida.  We can all just hope that it remains offshore for the duration of its lifetime.

The storm has not only strengthened in power but has also grown in size.  And as we have watched it grow into a Category 5 hurricane, we have also witnessed the tropical storm and hurricane-force wind field expand.  As of this morning, hurricane force winds extended out 45 miles from the center while tropical storm force winds extend out 140 miles from the center of Dorian in all directions.

And although Miami-Dade & Broward are officially out of the cone, it is difficult to ignore the fact that a massive Category 4 or 5 hurricane will be sitting just offshore of our coastal waters.  Because Dorian will be so close, all of South Florida should remain on guard & continue to monitor it’s progress.

Because of its proximity, a TROPICAL STORM watch has been issued for Coastal & Metro Broward County while Tropical Storm Warnings and Hurricane Watches have been issued for Palm Beach County.  Currently there are no watches or warning for Miami-Dade.

A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions (winds of 39-73mph) are possible within 36-48 hours.  So those areas in the watch areas should remain in informed and be prepared.

All of South Florida should continue to monitor the progress of Dorian in the days to come.

Please be safe out there.

Erika Delgado

Meteorologist

WSVN Channel 7 News

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