Now contemplating eyewall staying offshore and rolling up East Coast. This would be rain for all with structural damages only from water not wind.
Yeah, that 5 AM report looks not nearly as bad (especially for us over on the west coast). But there's a good reason it's called the "cone of uncertainty." And either way, look out for flooding. Around here, at least, the ground is already waterlogged from weeks of heavy rains and over-building and paving. Edit to add: Remember that that cone shows the possible paths of the center of the storm. You don't have to be in the cone to be affected. From the NHC:
With this much oomph, recurving to keep the eyewall well offshore is about the best that can be hoped for. S Carolina up to Charleston might actually get the worst. Meanwhile a slow turn will really grind parts of Bahamas this time. The mere persistence of 'those nubs' through most recent thousands of years (meaning hundreds of hurricanes) is quite amazing.
We shall watch Dorian's spaghetti models during its long Bahama visit. On current consensus track, it will be more about water than wind in Florida. More about surf and surge than rain.
Most spaghetti hang together here https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/storminfo/05L_tracks_00z.png But one labeled TABS after ~36 hours has a uniquely independent view of steering currents.
Vegas odds for a hurricane to come straight west to Bahamas, park, then track east coast 'just far enough' offshore would be close to zero. At least in a mild search of records since 1851, I did not find one.
I collect NHC 'wind snakes' for all interesting storms, at least in part because they do not seem to archive them. If you looked at this: and had no additional information, what would you guess happens next?
H. Matthew in 2016 gave coastline a sample of big-boy winds As one may recall, Matthew was unkind to Haiti, S. peninsula in particular.
Eyewall is parked over Grand Bahama Island, as it has been for do not know how may hours. This is getting ridiculous. Wind speeds at wall are now down to 125 knots (mph?) but even so, things break. High water is more of an 'everywhere' thing. Resumed reporting out of Freeport, etc, is going to be pretty horribe.