RUSKIN - Only one man in the room is wearing a tie, and he is staring, lips pursed, at the taupe office phone that says "Hurricane Hotline."
A disembodied voice speaks, and Shawn Bennett listens intently.
"We're going ahead and taking it to major hurricane strength here in 12 hours," says Stacey Stewart, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "What we're recommending is a hurricane warning now."
Stewart asks if there are any objections. Bennett drops the No. 2 pencil he has been twirling in his fingers and picks up the phone.
"This is Tampa Weather," he says. "We're fine with that."
And that's that. At 4:10 p.m. Thursday, Tampa Bay's hurricane watch for Charley has become a hurricane warning. The hurricane has gone from possible to imminent.
Bennett, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's regional headquarters in Ruskin, expected this.
In his office, a crew of about a dozen meteorologists and technical and support staff is working 12-hour shifts to shape raw data from the National Hurricane Center into real-world weather forecasts and safety advisories for local counties.
They wear comfortable clothes. They eat take-out. On their rare breaks, they call their families to make sure they're prepared for the storm.
This is the storm they've all been waiting for.
"Every year, you see people on TV saying, "This is our year. We're due,' " says meteorologist Dan Sobien. "It looks like our time is up. We drew the low cards this time."
Shortly after 5 p.m., Bennett is on the phone with state emergency personnel to let them know what to expect. At 6:25 p.m., he sits down for a conference call with emergency officials from local counties.
Bennett gives his forecast - at this point Charley is looking like it will be a Category 3 - and patiently answers questions from each county about wind force and storm surges in specific regions.
"If we had tornadoes that occurred as a result of and during the storm, we would issue the tornado warning," Bennett said. "We issue flash flood warnings. All the local warnings, we would issue."
Bennett is ready for the media onslaught. His shoes are shined, his blazer and tie ready for television camera lights. He went through more than a dozen hurricanes in the weather service's Puerto Rico office.
Most everyone else is wearing golf shirts and sneakers. Every creature comfort helps when you're spending half the day staring at computer screens, answering telephone calls from the media and public.
There is little time to devote much thought to friends and family.
"If the trees don't hit it, my house will survive," says forecaster Barry Goldsmith, who lives in Tampa.
The forecasters are not worried about their own safety. Their office sits on a small berm several feet above the low-lying back roads of Ruskin. Its walls are a foot thick.
Bennett will return this morning and stay until late Saturday. Calmly, he says he and his staff will be ready for Charley.
"We're like an NFL team," he says. "We prepare for the big game. This is the big game."
National Hurricane Center
