Forecasters warn Florida residents to pay close attention to Wilma.

Publication: South Florida Sun-Sentinel (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Byline: Jamie Malernee and Tim Collie

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ South Florida's fate now rests on Mexico's misfortune. The longer the storm lumbers over the Yucatan Peninsula, the better the chances that a weakened system will stagger toward the Sunshine State.

Until then, it's going to be a long, tense weekend waiting for Wilma to arrive sometime Monday. Forecasters urged residents to get ready Saturday for a fierce storm they fear will slash right through the state.

The key now is when and where the hurricane piggybacks on a cold front blowing across the Gulf of Mexico and makes a sharp, right-hand turn for South Florida. With little variation, three computer models used by forecasters have the storm moving on a northeasterly course that enters the state through Naples and exits around West Palm Beach.

"If it stays over the Yucatan for any significant length of time and much of the circulation is over land ... that would obviously be terrible news for Mexico, but for the United States' interests,...

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