The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t made any plans regarding Tropical Storm Idalia, but head coach Doug Pederson said the team is monitoring the potential hurricane bearing down on Florida.
“We’ll keep an eye on it,” Pederson told reporters Monday afternoon. “Late tomorrow and into Wednesday and then all-day Wednesday we will monitor that and see where it’s going. We went through this last year with a couple of storms that came through. This one might come a little bit closer than those two did, so we’ll just keep an eye on it and make decisions as we go. We got this place and an indoor facility if we need to use it, so we’re looking forward to that.”
A year ago, Hurricane Ian hit Central Florida in late September, causing an estimated $115.2 billion in total damages. The Jaguars were prepared to leave early for a Week 4 road game against the Philadelphia Eagles, if necessary, but Pederson told reporters at the time that he’d rather not leave his team’s families fending for themselves.
Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to reach North Florida sometime on Wednesday and is forecast to become a hurricane before its arrival.
4PM CDT 28 Aug: #Idalia is forecast to become a hurricane as it enters the Gulf of Mexico. There is a danger of life-threatening storm surge along portions of the Florida coastline. Follow any advice from local officials Visit https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ for more information pic.twitter.com/7RsDfWJNdw
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 28, 2023
The Jaguars and the rest of the NFL will have the weekend off before the regular season begins on the second weekend of September. The Jaguars will travel to face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Sept. 10.
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