“At 700 AM EDT (1100 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Ian was located by Air Force and NOAA Hurricane Hunter data near latitude 25.9 North, longitude 82.8 West. Ian is moving toward the north-northeast near 9 mph (15 km/h). This general motion with a reduction in forward speed is forecast today, followed by a turn toward the north on Thursday. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to approach the west coast of Florida within the hurricane warning area this morning, and move onshore later today. The center of Ian is forecast to move over central Florida tonight and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 155 mph (250 km/h) with higher gusts. Ian is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Ian is forecast to make landfall on the west coast of Florida as a catastrophic category 4 hurricane,” says a Wednesday morning NOAA bulletin.