9.00 am UPDATE: Forecasts are for conditions to begin slowly improving now, with the main tourism areas to be clear of the storm by around Noon, although gusty wind and rain will still linger into the afternoon.
7.30 am UPDATE: The worst of the storm is now passing the Orlando tourism area, wind gusts are at a maximum of 52 mph with sustained winds of 30 mph. Rain is pushing through now too.
6.00 am UPDATE: Wind has been picking up across Orlando and most of Central Florida. Heavy rain is now passing over the area. Wind gusts of 53 mph are being recorded with sustained winds of 32 mph.
5.30 am UPDATE: Orlando now seeing wind gusts of 63 mph and sustained winds of 41 mph, iin the Orlando tourism corridor.
4.30 am UPDATE: Orlando is seeing wind gusts of 45 mph and sustained winds of 38 mph, very close to tropical force winds in the Orlando 1-4 area.
Hurricane Nicole officially came ashore at 3 am, she made landfall along the east coast of Florida as a category 1 storm early Thursday just south of Vero Beach.
Nicole is the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in the month of November since 1985 when Hurricane Kate came ashore as a category 2 storm near Mexico Beach, Florida.
Quickly after landfall Nicole was downgraded to a Tropical Storm, although the wind difference is only a decrease of 5 mph.
The storm made landfall at Palm Shore packing maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, and even though the center of Nicole is going to go south of Orlando, that puts the area on the side of the storm that is going to do the most damage as far as the wind gust potential goes.
In Brevard County, wind gusts could get up to 85 mph, Daytona Beach, imposed a curfew and warned that intercoastal bridges used by evacuees would close when winds reach 39 mph.
Nicole was already causing storm damage in Central Florida Wednesday, including a building collapse in Daytona Beach Shores. Officials in the beachside community deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole.
Nicole has a broad wind field and gusts could reach up to 60 to 70 mph in the Orlando metropolitan area until 9 am,
Here are the recorded wind speeds so far at the coast:
Playalinda Beach 73 mph
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station 71 mph
Melbourne at 70 mph
Indialantic at 70 mph
Patrick Space Force Station at 67 mph
Sebastian Inlet at 66 mph
New Smyrna Beach at 60 mph
Vero Beach at 58 mph
Winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 485 miles, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Orlando is already seeing wind gusts of 45 mph and sustained winds of 38 mph, very close to tropical force winds in the Orlando 1-4 area.
We have the potential for isolated tornadoes, and power outages.
Stay indoors for now, and be safe!
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