By admin 
As the first hurricane of the season, Isaias, aims for Florida’s Panhandle, one of many things comes to mind: Where’s Jim Cantore?
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The intrepid Weather Channel star is renowned for showing up just when everyone else is shipping out.
Isaias is predicted to make landfall on the northern Gulf Coast as a Category 2 Friday night or early Saturday, with storm surge, rainfall, flooding and high winds. Conditions right up Cantore’s hurricane alley.
The rub is that Cantore often doesn’t update his location in real time on his socials (we get it, he’s a busy guy), so spotting him in your midst is a sign that it’s likely too late to go shopping for a generator.
Instagram Stories are where fans will find updates and information, and also where he reshares posts of unfortunate folks stuck in the affected areas.
The latest on the weatherman’s Stories: A throwback from October 2018 when Hurricane Michael was barreling down toward the same area of the Panhandle. The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office issued a faux trespass warning for Cantore, joking that he’s only allowed there for “non‑business related visits.”
Michael ended up being a catastrophic tropical cyclone that made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, the first Cat. 5 to strike the Panhandle. The winds, storm surge and rain caused widespread property and infrastructure damage and directly caused the deaths of 16 people.
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OK, so now that we’ve spiked your cortisol, the question remains. Where is he?
As of early Thursday morning, The Weather Channel put our guy in Pensacola Beach, located on a Florida barrier island in Escambia County, a safe distance of more than 600 miles from Miami.
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But that could change on a dime. Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency in 25 counties as Isaias approaches, allowing officials to prep ahead of potential impact.
“Floridians should take this time to get disaster plans in place and ensure their hurricane supply kit is stocked,” said the executive order.
Standing in front of the water, with winds at just 10 mph and the temperature at 73 degrees, Cantore says the area is still “packed’ with fall vacationers.
“Now they’re going to be asked to leave,” he said, adding that a lot of folks are comparing the growing storm to Sally. The Cat. 2 made landfall in September 2020, near Gulf Shores, Alabama, just west of the Florida state line.
“Maybe something similar in strength,” he said predicting Isaias could see 105 mph winds. “But what you’re going to be looking at is something weakening in intensity verses [one] intensifying as it comes to shore.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2026 at 8:34 AM with the headline “Hurricane Isaias is barreling toward Florida. So, where’s Jim Cantore?.”
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