Hurricane Irma's current path is the worst case scenario for residents of Florida.

After initial forecasts showed the storm would probably miss major land mass entirely, Irma changed course and now has a runway of conditions perfect for sustaining itself.

Florida is set to receive the full force of the record-breaking hurricane, with residents told to evacuate from the state's southern tip.

Why is Irma's current path so bad for Florida?

Aside from the obvious observation that Irma is heading straight towards the mainland of Florida, the path it is taking bodes particularly poorly for America's sunshine state.

The key to why this is lies in the science behind how hurricanes form and sustain themselves.

Hurricanes feed off warm seas, with the moisture evaporating from their paths, causing pockets of low pressure and driving up wind speeds.

They will lose power if there is enough wind shear to knock them off course or if they hit land.

Irma is enjoying all the conditions necessary to sustain itself and little of the ones needed to slow it down, becoming the first storm to sustain winds of 185mph for a period longer than a day.

While it has brought devastation to smaller Caribbean islands such as Barbuda and St Martin, it hasn't, as yet, hit any land masses large enough to slow it down.

Cuba's gain is very much Florida's loss in this regard. Had Irma hit Cuba, as it had been forecast to do a few days ago, this would likely have taken a lot of the sting out of the storm.

Instead, Irma's path has shifted to the north with the latest estimates showing the centre of the storm will slide up a corridor of very warm water between Cuba and the Bahamas. This water will help Irma maintain its ferocity and act as trail of fuel guiding the hurricane onto mainland Florida.

source: AFP