DELTA IS NOW A HURRICANE AND CONTINUES TO RAPIDLY STRENGTHEN… Delta is rapidly strengthening in the northwestern Caribbean Sea and is now a hurricane. The NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft crew investigating Delta found maximum sustained winds of 75 mph near the center of the developing storm. The rapid intensification process is probably not over just yet. There is a chance that Delta will become a major hurricane over the next few days as it continues to move northwest over the very warm waters of the Caribbean Sea and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. It cannot be stressed enough that residents along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico must diligently monitor this developing storm. Everyone from Beaumont, Texas eastward to Destin, Florida, including all of our local area, is involved in the cone of uncertainty. That cone represents where the CENTER of the hurricane may move. Impacts will extend well beyond that center point.
The following paragraphs from my previous posts today remain on target. I will have a live video update in the next few hours.
POTENTIAL LOCAL IMPACTS – DELTA… Local impacts from what will likely be Hurricane Delta (currently a category 1 hurricane as of 7PM on Monday) are expected to begin as early as Thursday P.M. near the Alabama and northwest Florida beaches. Friday, particularly in the afternoon and evening hours, into Saturday morning are when impacts will likely be the most significant across our local area in south Alabama and northwest Florida. All hurricane hazards will be possible on Friday into Saturday morning across our region, including the potential for gusty winds (especially near the coast), storm surge, tornadoes, and heavy rain that could lead to flash flooding and ultimately river and creek flooding. This will inevitably be different compared to Hurricane Sally that was an extremely slow-moving storm. Delta, on the other hand (and thankfully!), will be moving a lot quicker.
7PM MONDAY UPDATE ON THE CONE OF UNCERTAINTY… The cone of uncertainty extends from Beaumont, Texas on the west to Destin, Florida on the east. This means that the CENTER of the storm is expected to move onshore between these two points. Keep in mind that impacts will extend outward well away from the center, particularly on the eastern side (the right, front quadrant) of the storm. Our local area IS expected to be involved in this right, front quadrant, meaning impacts could be more pronounced compared to if our area was on the western side of the storm.
PLEASE START REVIEWING YOUR HURRICANE PLAN… Today is Monday, meaning we have approximately 4 days between us and this potential hurricane impact on our local area or areas just to our west. Today is the perfect time to start to review your hurricane plan. I suspect that many folks have depleted supplies after Hurricane Sally, that impacted our area only 19 days ago. This means that you should plan to have necessary supplies, medicines, and plenty of food and drinks ready JUST IN CASE we have hurricane conditions later this week. If you live in an evacuation or flood zone, be ready to heed the orders IF evacuation orders are needed for your specific area.
GAMMA WEAKENS TO TROPICAL DEPRESSION… Some good news to pass along on this Monday evening. Gamma continues to weaken. The system is now a tropical depression and has an exposed circulation center in the southern Gulf. No deep convection has fired up over the exposed center of circulation associated with Gamma, meaning the system is probably well on its way to becoming a remnant area of low pressure. Our focus can exclusively be on Delta in the days ahead and we likely won’t have to worry about a “double threat” due to Gamma. This is excellent news!
SHOWERS POSSIBLE NEAR COAST IN DAYS AHEAD… Rain chances have increased for the south and eastern parts of our region (near the coast, mainly) as clouds from Tropical Storm Gamma stream in from the south. Most likely we won’t have rain over the next few hours, but I can’t rule out a few showers near the coast on Tuesday into Wednesday. Starting Thursday, we will begin to experience the outer rain bands of what will likely be Hurricane Delta by that point, depending on the exact future track of the storm.
APP ALERTS… Many updates will be posted throughout the day and in the days ahead in the RedZone Weather app. redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download. Be sure to visit the Alerts tab (bottom right corner) and tap the large, yellow “Alert Settings” button to customize the alerts you’d like to receive from me. If you like a lot of info, be sure to toggle ON Low-Level Alerts.
NEXT UPDATE… I will have another detailed LIVE update about Hurricane Delta later this evening. Until then, many more updates will be posted in the RedZone Weather app. Have a nice Monday evening!