HURRICANE DELTA LIKELY TO MAKE LOUISIANA LANDFALL FRIDAY NIGHT… Confidence continues to increase that the center of Hurricane Delta will likely come ashore in Louisiana sometime on Friday night into early Saturday morning as a major hurricane. While south Alabama and northwest Florida will be on the eastern side of the hurricane moving in, most of our area may actually be far enough removed from the center to the east that impacts will be more limited. This is good news! We are certainly not “out of the woods” from all impacts just yet, but it does appear that the more dangerous, widespread impacts will happen just to our west across parts of Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Regardless of that, we still are expecting heavy rain at times on Friday night into Saturday. There also may be a low-end tornado risk that sets up primarily for coastal areas and west Alabama since those are the zones that will be closest to the landfall point locally. We have all of your Wednesday morning Hurricane Delta details below.
LOCAL IMPACTS FROM DELTA FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY… While the core of Hurricane Delta is expected to come ashore in Louisiana, we still could have some impacts from the large hurricane locally in south Alabama and northwest Florida, especially in west Alabama in areas west of the Alabama River. Heavy rain will be possible at times. Gusty winds and breezy conditions are expected. There may be a risk of a few tornadoes, mainly across west Alabama, on Saturday. There could also be some minor coastal flooding near the Alabama beaches and Mobile Bay. As of the Wednesday morning forecast, however, the significant, widespread, and highly damaging impacts are expected to happen to our west across parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. More forecast changes will be possible, and we must not let our guard down just yet. Certainly looking better, but do not mistake this message as “all clear.” Nowhere close to that just yet!
DELTA TO MOVE INTO SOUTHERN GULF TODAY… Hurricane Delta is lashing the northeastern corner of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on this Wednesday morning. It is my hope that all the folks near Cozumel and Cancun have sought higher ground and are away from the massive waves that continue to pelt the shores of the northeastern Yucatan. Delta will move into the southern Gulf of Mexico in the hours ahead. We will have to see just how much the land interaction with the Yucatan weakens Delta once the system moves away from land. Delta is expected to at least slightly re-intensify once the storm reaches the west-central Gulf before turning north toward Louisiana.
FEW SPRINKLES & SHOWERS POSSIBLE AT TIMES TODAY… Just like yesterday, we could have a few showers today across our area, particularly in coastal areas. I saw a few sprinkles of rain yesterday at our Brewton, AL studio location, but we never had measurable rainfall. That will be the story for most today across the region. High temperatures will be in the mid-80s today.
SCATTERED SHOWERS & STORMS POSSIBLE THURSDAY… Rain chances are set to increase on Thursday as more showers and thunderstorms move in from the south. We are not expecting widespread severe weather on Thursday, but a few of the thunderstorms could produce loud thunder and heavy rain at times. High temperatures on Thursday will again be in the mid-80s.
CENTER OF HURRICANE DELTA APPROACHES LOUISIANA FRIDAY… The core of Hurricane Delta is expected to make landfall somewhere along the Louisiana coastline. The large hurricane will likely make landfall Friday evening or perhaps very early in the morning hours of Saturday. The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center calls for Delta to be a major, category 3 hurricane at the time of landfall Friday night. It cannot be stressed enough that folks in and near the following Louisiana places should be preparing for a potentially extensive hurricane impact Friday into Saturday: New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Morgan City, New Iberia, Houma, Thibodaux, Grand Isle, Abbeville (LA), Opelousas, Hammond, Kentwood, Denham Springs, Zachary, Prairieville, and Gonzales.
OTHER THAN DELTA, ATLANTIC BASIN QUIET… Outside of Hurricane Delta, the remainder of the tropical Atlantic basin is quiet with no new tropical storms expected to form over the next 5 days through Sunday. I am cautiously optimistic after Hurricane Delta, we will get a break from the tropics for awhile, hopefully extending to the end of the hurricane season on November 30. Typically, August, September, and October are the 3 most active months with November *generally* being much less active in the tropics. We start shifting into our secondary tornado season locally in November and December.
APP ALERTS… redzoneweather.com/app is the link where you can download the free RedZone Weather app. We post brief updates throughout each day in the app, keeping you up-to-date about the latest happenings in weather across south Alabama and northwest Florida. Once you have the free app downloaded to your iOS or Android device, be sure to visit the Alerts tab (lower right corner) then tap the large, yellow Alert Settings button to customize the alerts you would like to receive straight from me.
NEXT UPDATE… More updates will be posted throughout the day in the RedZone Weather app concerning Hurricane Delta. Our live video update will begin this evening after 7PM. Have a nice Wednesday!