Hurricane Matthew Beginning to Threaten Florida

I just finished reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, where a young man's portrait keeps changing and getting uglier each succeeding time he looks at it.  In like manner, during the last 24 hours, it seems that each time I see the projected path of monster Hurricane Matthew on the map provided by The Weather Channel, it seems to shift a bit westward...toward my Florida.  Although the predicted trajectory of Matthew's center eye is still off-shore,  the red-colored "cone of probability" now includes most of northern peninsular Florida...including my hometown of Gainesville.  And these westward shifts of the forecasts...like Dorian Gray's portrait...keep looking worse...

Ironically, it was a shift eastward of Matthew that has resulted in it pummeling the already-reeling, poverty and disaster-stricken nation of Haiti, with large low-lying areas full of tent cities in the direct path of its 145 mph winds and massive storm surge and rainfall.  So far they've reported three fatalities there from this Category Four storm...that figure is certain to drastically rise.  Now, instead of traveling through the mountainous region of eastern Cuba, which would have substantially weakened it for at least a while, Matthew will mostly pass between Cuba and Haiti, keeping it more intact...and dangerous...as it plows through the Bahamas toward our fair state.  At this time it is expected to pose its greatest threat to northern Florida on Friday...but the timetable we've been given for this hurricane has been off more than its predicted path.  Also, it looks at this point as if Matthew will continue to hug the eastern United States coast all the way to New England...but don't expect that forecast to remain stable, either.  Now excuse me while I go get some flashlights and water...