So at the 11:00 am advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Irma now has sustained winds of 180 mph. To put this in perspective, that is the equivalent wind speed of an F3 tornado. It is the strongest Atlantic basin hurricane outside of the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico in NHC records. The pressure continues to drop (925mb in the last aircraft fix) indicating that Irma is still strengthening.

The forecast track is looking more and more grim for south Florida and the intensity, although not quite at the strength it is now, is still predicted to be at least a Cat 4 when it gets there.

I'm a bit of a weather geek and have followed the dynamics of these things for a long time and the satellite presentation of Irma in the last couple of hours is about as impressive as you will ever see. Truly amazing.