Yes, Irma's beginning to lift away from the Cuban coast, a very slight bend in course northward.
How, and if, this course change holds and/or increases, will determine where it slices the Keys, and where it impacts the Florida coast.
Irma will be crossing the area where the Gulf Loop Current joins the Gulf Stream, and both are anomalously warm now, a significant intensification could be just hours away.
Irma could also possibly traverse and remain over the East part of the Loop Current, this link has a good write-up on how that has intensified many cyclones (as does the Gulf Stream).
Gulf Loop CurrentAll the models take it onto a WNW/NW/NNW/N course, but it's now clear the Irma will have an excursion to some degree into the Gulf of Mexico, where SST's (and positive heat anomaly) could affect that and certainly the intensity.
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