I mentioned this in the Tropical Cyclone tracking thread, but I personally think Michael will make landfall as a 125 mph Cat 3 (peak strength). Given the rate of intensity, it could be raised.
Why do you always hope for the worst?
It's not that I hope for the worst, in fact I did mention that Florence would weaken before landfall to a Cat 2 (ended up being a cat 1), despite . Models have not been super great with strength and don't often underestimate rapid intensification rates. The environment in about 36 hours to landfall appears to be conductive for rapid intensification according to forcasts.
Harvey was only predicted to be a cat 1 at landfall 3 days before and it ended up being a Cat 4, and the environment has similarities to each other.
Katrina was another example as NHC had it as a Cat 2 (I could be wrong here because I only looked at the graphic) (but it did weaken after peaking).
Shall I continue the list more that happened like I'm predicting?
LG-TP260