They are currently saying Tropical storm hits between Tampa and Pensacola on Thursday....how long typically do these things hang around?...DW and I are flying in on Friday mid day.....so wondering if our flight will be an issue by then?.....what do you think?....especially all you experienced Floridian's!
Well, first of all, realize the distances involved. Tampa to Pensacola is about 400 miles -- or about the same as Boston to Washington, DC or San Francisco to San Diego. So that is one heckuva big spread.
Secondly, you have to consider how big the storm is 3-4 days from now, and we can't know that. It has been a pretty large system overall, but once it slows down and strengthens it should get smaller. How much smaller? Who knows?
Third, you have to look at where you are flying in FROM and where your particular aircraft is coming from -- and there is no way to know that.
According to the
current storm track, it looks like they are expecting the storm to turn and rapidly accelerate to the NE on Wednesday. By 2 PM on Friday, the
current track shows the storm off the coast of SC. But keep in mind that a) all that could change, b) a tropical storm is a wide area of disturbed weather, not a dot on the map, and c) your flights could be changed by factors that have little to do with the path of the storm (equipment availability, crew scheduling, etc.).
So the short answer is none of us know. I think you'll be okay, but stay in touch with your airline over the next couple of days and be prepared for changes.
