- Record-shattering Isaias continues to strengthen en route to landfall on the northern Gulf Coast by this weekend. The storm rapidly intensified into the Atlantic season’s first hurricane on Wednesday night.
- Isaias could near Category 3 strength, but will weaken some before making landfall as a larger hurricane by early Saturday morning. Feet of storm surge, up to 10 inches of rain, tornadoes and destructive winds are expected.
- States of emergency have been issued in parts of Alabama and Florida, where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging residents to prepare. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in two counties in the Florida panhandle.
Hurricane Isaias WXApp2 videos
When will Isaias make landfall?
Hurricane Isaias is expected to strengthen significantly over Thursday and Friday. Even if it weakens slightly before landfall, the storm will remain dangerous along the Gulf Coast.
Shelves empty as shoppers prepare for Hurricane Isaias
Hurricane Isaias is due to make landfall late Friday night into Saturdayas a strong Category two storm. A state of emergency has been declared across Florida and Alabama.
Tornadoes are possible anywhere from Mobile, Alabama, to Tallahassee, Florida, as Isaias approaches the shore and makes landfall Friday night into Saturday morning.
As Isaias’ rainbands reach land, they’ll transport moist air from the Gulf and set the stage for some tornadoes.
Tornadoes from tropical systems can pop up with little notice but tend to be short-lived.
Level 2 of 5 risks of severe thunderstorms are in place for parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast for late Friday and Saturday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. These quick tornadoes are the main severe threat. See the graphics below for the main areas at risk.
Saturday’s severe thunderstorm risk, with tornadoes as the main threat:
The Pensacola International Airport is scheduled to close its terminal to commercial operations Friday morning, according to a city news release. The airport will close its runways at 6 p.m. Friday evening.
All Okaloosa County airports will close Thursday evening, including Destin-Fort Walton Beach. The county is “asking all out-of-town visitors to evacuate from the forecast area of impacts” by 8 p.m. Wednesday.
All trains along the Amtrak Mardi Gras Service line, which runs between New Orleans, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, are cancelled through Sunday due to flood gate closures in New Orleans in preparation for Hurricane Isaias, the Southern Rail Commission announced.
Additionally, Amtrak has suspended its Crescent line train service between New Orleans and Atlanta, the commission said. Services are expected to resume on Monday.
Hurricane Isaias’ winds increased from 35 mph to 70 mph in 24 hours which exactly meets the criteria for rapid intensification.
This satellite time-lapse from Tuesday night to Wednesday night shows thunderstorms bubbling up within Isaias during this intensification period. Isaias continued to rapidly intensify into a hurricane overnight Wednesday.
Satellite imagery shows Isaias rapidly intensifying from a depression to a strong tropical storm.
This animation uses infrared imagery which depicts the most intense thunderstorms near the center of Isaias in purple and white.
Storm surge warnings along the Gulf Coast expanded to include more of Florida late Thursday morning.
The warnings now span from the mouth of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana to the Suwannee River in Florida’s Big Bend region.
The worst of the storm surge will occur around landfall east of Isaias’ center, so the storm’s exact track will be crucial.
Landfall is currently expected somewhere near the Alabama-Florida border Friday night or early Saturday morning, but that location will likely wobble over the next day or so.
Storm surge forecast from Isaias.
Isaias is a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 10 a.m. CT update. That’s an increase of 5 mph from just three hours ago and shows that the hurricane is starting to bulk up again.
Isaias continues to battle some storm-disrupting winds in the atmosphere and dry air that led to its brief strength plateau earlier this morning. But it’s still forecast to reach Category 2 strength this evening and peak as a high-end Category 2 with 110 mph winds overnight Thursday or Friday morning.
Crews work to clear storm drains in Escambia County, Florida, on October 7.
Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of Gulf and Okaloosa counties on the northwest Florida coastline.Walton County hasissueda voluntary evacuation notice for low-lying areas.
Governor Ron DeSantis declareda state of emergency for 25counties across the state on Tuesday.Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves also issued an emergency declaration for city.
Multiple counties are closing their offices beginning either Thursday or Friday, including Escambia, Okaloosa, Washington and Calhoun counties.
Satellite view of Isaias on Thursday morning.
The sun has come up to reveal Hurricane Isaias and its swirling clouds above the Gulf’s record-warm water.
True color satellite imagery shows us what a storm looks like with the naked eye from space — think of it as what you’d see if you were on the space station.
But you need sunlight to illuminate the clouds and use this imagery. The storm’s bright white clouds appear in the loop as the satellite captures the moment of this morning’s sunrise.
Here’s a look at Isaias’ impacts and when to expect them in cities along the Gulf Coast.
- Peak impact: Late Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. High tide is at 10 p.m. ET Friday.
- Rainfall:6 to 10 inches, starting early Friday afternoon with the heaviest rain Friday evening through night.
- Wind gusts:Tropical storm-force gusts (39+ mph) from midday Friday to Saturday morning. Expect hurricane-force gusts (74+ mph) from 9 p.m. ET Friday to 2 a.m. ET Saturday. Peak gusts will hit 80 to 100 mph.
- Peak impact: Late Friday afternoon to Saturday morning. High tide is at 11 p.m. ET Friday.
- Rainfall: 6 to 10 inches, starting early Friday afternoon, with the heaviest Friday evening through Friday night.
- Wind gusts:Tropical storm-force gusts from mid-afternoon Friday to Saturday morning. Expect hurricane-force gusts from 9 p.m. ET Friday to 2 a.m. ET Saturday. Peak gusts will hit 80 to 100 mph.
- Peak impact: Friday morning to Saturday morning
- Rainfall: Around 1 inch, starting Friday morning with the heaviest rain on Friday night.
- Wind gusts:Tropical storm-force gusts from late Friday morning to Friday evening. Peak gusts Friday evening will be 35 to 45 mph.
For those who lived through Helene, another hurricane bringing rain to the mountains may stir understandable anxiety. But Isaias’ forecast points to a more limited flood threat.
Parts of the southern Appalachians could see 3 to 5 inches Saturday, with locally significant flooding possible.
During Helene, some mountain areas received up to 10 inches before the hurricane arrived. Moisture streaming ahead of Helene fueled a separate area of persistent downpours, known as a “predecessor rain event,” or PRE.
The hurricane then dumped torrential rain onto saturated ground, with mountain slopes enhancing the rainfall. The combined multiday event piled up 20 to 30 inches of rain in some parts of western North Carolina.
Isaias’ quick movement should help limit rainfall totals, though locally higher amounts remain possible. Residents should keep watching for forecast changes as the storm draws closer.
Isaias is forecast to run into some storm-disrupting wind shear the closer it gets to the US coast. This shear — changes in wind speed or direction at different levels of the atmosphere — is going to push Isaias a little off-kilter, focusing the worst of its wind and rain on the north side of the storm.
This lopsidedness will weaken Isaias — but also expand the reach of its winds.
A stronger storm tends to stay compact, like an ice skater spinning. Try to knock that same skater off balance, they’ll put out their arms to steady themself.
That’s basically the same thing we’re expecting with Isaias’ winds — instead of staying confined closer to the center, they’ll stretch out farther. More places could be hit with Isaias’ strong winds as a result, even if the storm is a bit weaker overall.
Natasha Ducre stands in the kitchen of her damaged home following Hurricane Milton in Palmetto, Florida, in October 2024.
If Isaias makes landfall as a hurricane, it will mark the first hurricane landfall anywhere in the United States in two years.
No hurricane has come ashore in the US since 2024’sHurricane Milton. Milton slammed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 major hurricane on October 9, 2024.
Isaias is forecast to weaken, but still remain a formidable storm before landfall Friday night or very early Saturday morning. It could come ashore as a Category 1 or a lower-end Category 2 hurricane before quickly becoming a tropical storm after landfall.
Regardless of its strength, Isaias will be the fourth named storm to make landfall in the US this season. The three others have been short-lived tropical storms: Arthur impacted Texas on June 17; Bertha hit Louisiana on July 22; and Edouard made landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border on September 1.
All Mobile County and Baldwin County Public schools in Alabama will be closed on Friday as Hurricane Isaias is expected to impact the northern Gulf Coast this weekend.
“We do not like to do this, because it affects so many, but we have to take all factors into consideration and of course, the most important, the safety of our students and our staff,” Baldwin County Public Schools Superintendent Marty McRae said announcing the closure on Wednesday.
All of Baldwin County Public Schools’ afterschool and extracurricular activities scheduled for Friday and Saturday are also canceled.
“I cannot risk anyone’s safety,” Mobile County Public Schools Superintendent Chresal Threadgill said in his closure announcement. “The weather conditions currently remain extremely unpredictable.”
Isaias remains a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s 7 a.m. CT update.
The hurricane has maintained its strength over the past few hours but is still set to strengthen today. It’s forecast to peak as a high-end Category 2 hurricane sometime Thursday night.
A Hurricane Hunter aircraft is currently flying into Isaias, so we’ll get a more precise measurement of its current strength soon.
At least 14 Florida Panhandle counties are closing public schools Friday, and many have closed Thursday, according to the state’s Department of Education.
Florida State University’s campus in Panama City is also closed.
The right side of a hurricane, relative to its forward motion, typically packs the most extreme conditions, and it’s all because of their counterclockwise rotation.
Wind speeds are amplified because the rotation pushes air in the same direction as the storm is moving. The area with the most extreme winds and intense storms sits just to the right of a hurricane’s eye, in the eye wall.
Because of boosted winds, tornadoes also occur more frequently on the right side. Faster winds increase areas of wind shear — a change in wind speed or direction with height — which tornadoes need to spin up.
Similarly, surge is also enhanced. As storms approach land, wind piles up and pushes seawater towards the coast on the right side of a hurricane. On the left side of a hurricane, wind does the opposite and can actually drain bays.
This will all be true for Isaias but may be even more so because it’s expected to become lopsided as it battles wind shear near the Gulf Coast. More thunderstorms and rain will likely be concentrated on the hurricane’s eastern half.
A forecast model shows the progression of wind gusts inland in the Southeast on Saturday morning. This forecast could change with any shifts in the track and intensity of Isaias.
Isaias is guaranteed to knock out power and down trees where it makes landfall along the coast, but outages could extend further inland into parts of the Southeast.
Isaias will be moving fast and grow larger before it moves inland. Those are two of the factors that will fuel wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph that will spread northward into parts of central and northern Alabama, northern Georgia and northeast Mississippi on Saturday.
Those gusts are nowhere near as fierce as what the coast will see, but it could be enough to cause at least isolated to scattered power outages, particularly in Alabama.
As Tropical Storm Isaias heads towards the Gulf Coast, many residents began preparing days in advance.
Residents flocked to grocery stores and gas stations in Pensacola, Florida to stock up in preparation causing long lines at some locations.
Trump surprised to hear about tropical storm threatening Gulf Coast
0:42• Gulf Coast
0:42
As Hurricane Isaias approaches the Gulf Coast, all eyes are on how it will impact one of the biggest games of the college football season.
The storm could make landfall Saturday, hours before No. 2 Georgia plays No. 6 Alabama in Tuscaloosa in a game that President Donald Trump is planning to attend.
While the storm could prompt other schools in the region to cancel games, change kickoff times, or even move games to other locations, Alabama said “there are no plans to alter the contest” in a statement Wednesday evening.
When asked whether the storm will change his travel plans to Alabama, Trump said, “We’ll have to see.”
Team officials offered few details on contingency plans if the storm were to intensify.
Even if the game goes on as planned, meteorologists predict players and spectators may feel some effects of the storm.
Heavy rain and gusty winds could make for a soggy, blustery Saturday evening in Tuscaloosa.
A faster-moving storm could allow conditions to improve before or during the game, but that’s not the most likely outcome right now. The timing will be key.
