Ian grows to a Category 3 hurricane as it approaches Florida.

Hurricane Ian strengthened into a category 3 hurricane with 125 MPH winds just before making a landfall near La Coloma, Cuba at 3:30 AM Central Time

Hurricane Ian is expected to bring dangerous storm surge and gusts of up to 140 mph as it approaches Florida’s Gulf Coast in the middle of this week, according to the National Hurricane Center on Monday.

As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, Ian had intensified into a strong Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph as it approached western Cuba, according to forecasters. Officials in Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province established dozens of shelters and made measures to protect crops in the country’s largest tobacco-growing region. According to the National Hurricane Center in the United States, storm surge along the island’s west coast could reach 14 feet (4.3 metres).

As it approaches Cuba, Ian’s storm surge “may boost sea levels by up to 9 to 14 feet over normal tidal levels” in some regions, according to the hurricane centre. In Florida, the surge is expected to be slightly less severe, although sections of Tampa Bay may still see waters 5 to 10 feet higher than typical.

The NHC reported in its 5 a.m. advisory that Ian was about 5 miles west of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and moving northwest at 12 mph. “Cuba is anticipating life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall,” hurricane centre senior specialist Daniel Brown told The Associated Press.

The storm is forecast to change track toward the north and northeast during the next 48 hours, and the timing of those movements will likely determine where it makes landfall on the U.S. mainland.

A hurricane warning is in force for western Cuba, indicating that severe conditions are near. In the United States, approximately 100 miles of the Florida coast, from Englewood north to the Anclote River — an area that encompasses Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg — is under hurricane watch. Normally, a hurricane watch is issued 48 hours before storm conditions occur.

Ian is the fourth Atlantic storm of 2022, following the arrival of the season’s first hurricane earlier this month. So far, forecasts of above-average activity in the 2022 hurricane season have not come true, owing to oscillations in the jet stream and heat waves in northern latitudes.

However, Ian’s ominous demeanour serves as a reminder of a warning that hurricane specialists frequently issue: a single terrible storm is enough to upend people’s lives.

“It just takes one landfalling hurricane to ruin your season,” Jamie Rhome, acting director of the National Hurricane Center, told NPR earlier this month.

President Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have both declared states of emergency, making it easier for federal and state agencies to coordinate their preparation and response.

All eyes are on projections that model Ian’s possible path along the eastern Gulf of Mexico coast. Experts, however, advise everyone in the region to have an emergency plan in place, even if the storm’s latest track does not show it making landfall in their area.

The storm is expected to stay off Florida’s western coast as it advances north into the Panhandle. However, storm will bring significant rain along the way, up to 15 inches in some regions and 8-10 inches overall in central western Florida.

Due to the storm surge and waves whipped up by powerful gusts, the deepest waters are likely to impact on the storm’s right side in coastal locations.

“Regardless of Ian’s precise trajectory and intensity, there is a possibility of a life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall along the west coast of Florida and the Florida Panhandle by the middle of this week,” the National Hurricane Center warned on Monday.

Shoppers in the expected route of the storm are loading up on water, batteries, and other goods. Some shelves were apparently empty in northern Florida, while locals in the Tampa region were more comfortable, anticipating the storm would pass them by.

“It’s trending west,” a shopper at a Sarasota Winn-Dixie store told member station WUSF on Sunday. “We looked at the models, and only a handful of them appear to have an impact on us; everything else points to the Panhandle.”