For a chaser, forecasting and going after Ivan is going to be a nightmare. I'm considering a chase, *if* landfall is in the panhandle. The big problem with targeting a hurricane coming in at this angle is the great distance that a chaser has to reposition if the hurricane makes a slight deviation from its projected path. For instance, the 5pm advisory has landfall near Tallahassee. We all know that will change with each advisory. If you target Tallahassee and the storm makes a slight right turn, your target could be as far south as Naples! That's a 472 mile, 7.5-hour drive to reposition - and 1.5 tanks of gas (for a vehicle that gets about 20-25 mpg). If you target Tampa and reposition to Tallahassee - 296 miles, 4.5 hour drive, 1 tank of gas. Start at Tampa and adjust to Naples, 151 miles, 2.5 hours, or about 2/3 tank. Or, what about the possibility of a left turn, with landfall in Biloxi: From Tampa, that's 600 miles, a 10 hour drive, over 2 tanks of gas!
That's a lot of ground to cover with severe fuel shortages and a fast-moving hurricane. Getting this one right will be a little tougher than the last ones. I have the convenience of starting from Raleigh, NC this time (visiting family), a few hours south of my normal base. As a chaser, for me it's going to be a last minute decision to go - IF landfall looks to be in the panhandle. A landfall in the FL panhandle, perpendicular to shore, will allow greater flexibility for a chaser to reposition in time without burning precious fuel. A landfall on the FL west coast will be nearly impossible to target barring a very precise forecast this time, very little room for a chaser to error.