Irma is a powerful hurricane churning her way toward the Keys and Southern mainland Florida. There is still a lot of speculation about where this storm will go, and it remains unclear where a turn north will be made.

I am under the growing opinion that North Carolina will take a hit from Irma in some form. With each passing hour, it appears, that the window is closing for Irma to take a hard turn toward Louisiana/Mississippi, or, a hard turn right and up the eastern coast of Florida. The bottom line, by early next week, it likely will get windy and very wet for much of the Carolinas. 

It is worth your time and mental gymnastics to review a plan about how you'd get through a few days without power. Items you should review and think about having on hand IF the need arises include medicines, cash on hand, food for pets, non-perishable food items, outdoor cooking source, gas grill tanks filled, enough fuel for the Coleman cook stoves and bottled water. When to put the mental plan into action will depend on Irma and you. I would expect by Thursday/Friday'ish, we'll have a pretty good sense of what to expect for NC.

The bottom line is much may change. Stay informed and stay tuned! Data changes almost hourly and the forecast track is updated every six hours.

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Closer to home...

A cold front will slip across North Carolina tonight and Wednesday. Until the boundary has cleared the area, showers and a few storms will remain possible. We'll expect clearing skies Wednesday night and a dry stretch of days through late Sunday. After Sunday? Read the above!