Miami’s guide to tracking Hurricane Irma

With Miami and surrounding South Florida bracing for a possible storm this weekend with Hurricane Irma approaching the southeastern U.S. coast, we thought it’d be helpful to compile a guide designed for Miami residents in an effort to cut out the noise that one’s social media feed naturally produces.

While Irma’s arrival in Miami is not a probability but a possibility at this point, it’s certainly a dangerous storm, a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 185 miles per hour, according to the Wednesday morning update.

Social media, while proving to be a tremendous asset in terms of generating awareness, can also have its downfalls — the sensationalizing of storms is certainly still out there and often times our feeds can be overkill — but it’s important to remember one key point as we finalize our preparations: prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

We’re still several days away from feeling potential tropical storm winds (or worse) and a lot can change between now and then. It’s critical to be following what’s going on but it’s probably not a great idea to drive yourself crazy refreshing your Twitter and Facebook feeds every two minutes.

This guide was designed to keep Miamians optimally informed as we track Hurricane Irma’s progress.

Official updates

The National Hurricane Center provides updates every three hours — at 8, 11, 2, and 5 — with the latest info on the hurricane’s strength and speed in addition to warnings, watches, and cones.

Preparation

Check out Miami-Dade’s Guide to Hurricane Readiness for everything you could possibly want to know about not only hurricane preparation but also what to do during and after the storm.

Local television and Facebook Live coverage

My personal favorite local meteorologist is NBC 6’s John Morales, who is certainly not in the alarmist group. He gives it to you straight without the sensationalizing. John also has been sharing plenty of videos on Facebook Live for more immediate coverage than the local television broadcast.

Twitter List

Subscribe to this list on Twitter for the most up-to-date info and to avoid the chaos and potentially fake news that the typical Twitter feed organically produces. This list follows both local and national meteorologists like Morales and Ginger Zee, respectively, in addition to official Hurricane Center feeds, and local government in Miami-Dade, Miami Beach, and BRoward. However, if you’re going crazy, stay off Twitter for a while and only check for NHC updates as needed.

Visuals

While this Spaghetti Models website can be extremely overwhelming—and horrifying if you’re an intense worrier—it’s a great source to keep you constantly updated on all the maps, tracking, and other

visuals that are being pumped out across the web.

Stay safe and be prepared.