Matthew has been a major hurricane – that is, one with peak winds of at least 111 m.p.h. – since Friday morning.
With the latest update, the National Hurricane Center placed Matthew about 200 miles south of Nassau, the Bahamas, with peak winds of 115 mph.
But it already had an enduring career as a Cat 4, becoming the longest-lasting hurricane of such strength in October on record, according to Philip Klotzbach, hurricane expert at Colorado State University and seedling of the late tropical storm legend Bill Gray.
Its central barometric pressure, a measure of just how intense and deep a storm is, also has set an October record.
Matthew has devastated eastern Cuba, and the latest track has regaining strength and pack winds up to 130 mph is it makes a perilously close encounter with the Florida coast.
The National Hurricane Center has it making an uncomfortably close brush with the mainland to the north of Miami, and a hurricane watch is in effect elsewhere.
Then Matthew now is forecast to curl out to sea and possibly loop back to southern Florida, quite a radical difference from the outlook on Tuesday, which had it making a drive-by off New Jersey.
We continue to advocate no panic before it's time, but when you see a forecast this mercurial, keep paying attention.