Hurricane Irma Herndon Update: Strong Chance Of Direct Hit For Our Region

HERNDON, VA — Hurricane Irma is churning off the coast of Cuba and headed straight for Florida, and new models indicate that our chances of eventually seeing the storm roll through Herndon has increased, or at least remains strong.

Irma is expected to make landfall on the southern Florida coast Saturday evening, moving north through the entire state before heading into the southeastern United States by Monday morning.

After that, Irma's track is iffy, but several models show the storm suddenly cutting east and headed directly toward the D.C. area.

Latest runs from Euro (red) & GFS (blue) models show Fla peninsula faces dire risk from #Irma, but exact track, ground-zero, not locked in. pic.twitter.com/zDINsKIES1
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 8, 2017

It's also possible the storm continues to move toward the Midwest before dissipating entirely.

If Irma does hit, it will have spent several days over land and therefore should have weakened significantly. Winds would probably be fairly mild, although we could see a significant amount of rain. However, it will certainly be nothing like what Florida is about to experience.

In South Florida, "severe, if not catastrophic, damage is becoming inevitable" from #Irma. Latest update: https://t.co/Op60Ha3cxR pic.twitter.com/BC1UBgMSfn
— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 8, 2017

Image via NOAA