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CNN Sunday Morning

Hurricane Michelle on Track to Miss U.S. Mainland

Aired November 04, 2001 - 09:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: There is another threat at America's doorstep, and that is Hurricane Michelle. Forecasters are calling it an extremely dangerous storm, and Cuba is already feeling its fury.

Let's check in with Jill Brown to get the latest on Michelle -- Jill.

JILL BROWN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Marty, this late-season hurricane is not expected to make landfall in the U.S. But it's going to be a close enough call that folks are preparing, and even evacuating at this hour.

I'll show you where the watches and warnings are in a moment. But I wanted to give you the latest stats on Michelle. By the way, these will be updated in about an hour. It is centered about 140 miles south of Havana, Cuba, moving to the northeast at 12 miles per hour. And the winds are 135 miles per hour.

That's a very strong hurricane, a Category Four, considered a major hurricane. It's not expected to gain more strength. It's also not expected to weaken any before it makes landfall in Cuba.

So a quick look at the satellite picture here will show you we had a real discernible eye yesterday, but the upper level winds out of the west are bringing some of the high clouds over the eye so we can't see it. It's still there, we just can't see it very well on satellite, and it looks like it's coming very close to the Isle of Youth now. It should be on the eastern end; and then later today, cross over this narrow island of Cuba.

If it were a flat island, it probably wouldn't lose a lot of strength, but because it is mountainous, this should weaken it a fair amount before it comes back over the Florida Straits. It's forecasted to head up across the Bahamas and miss the U.S. mainland.

Now, this is the forecast track it is likely to take. This is the forecast. Again, it can vary somewhat from this, but even if it were to make a path a little bit farther to the west and north and come over south Florida, it should be weaker than it is now. That's the good news. And it has made the turn, so it is heading in this direction right now.

So overnight tonight across Cuba, tomorrow heading up toward the Bahamas. Through that entire time we expect to see a whole lot of rain in Florida. And the watches are up, and the warnings. So it's a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys. Evacuation is in progress. Hurricane watch so far in the Bahamas. And obviously we have the hurricane warnings here across the western half of Cuba.

Closer to home, we have the heavy rain coming in around Miami out toward the Keys. Again, folks were preparing, getting ready for this hurricane. I think we can show you some scenes of what's been going on in South Florida, boarding up and moving out.

It looks beautiful here, but that's not unusual. Before a hurricane comes in, you typically have subsidence and basically sunny skies; then the winds start picking up, the clouds start coming in.

We already have the rain. We'll have a lot of beach erosion, definitely heavy surf. It looks rough out there. Folks are smart to prepare, even though we aren't expecting a direct landfall. But again, we are likely to see hurricane-force wind gusts.

Obviously the rain's already here and the beach erosion for the next 24 hours, then later tomorrow hopefully things will begin to improve as this moves off to the east, if it stays on this track. So we'll have to keep watching it; 10:00 Eastern, that's the next update, we'll bring you the latest.

Marty, now back to you.

SAVIDGE: All right Jill, we'll keep an eye out on that.

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