Baldwin and Mobile counties will likely be on the west side of the eye of Hurricane Isaias when it makes landfall this evening, but a storm that is starting to move faster and grow larger will still bring heavy winds to the area.
The National Hurricane Center streamed a live broadcast beginning at 4 p.m. that updated viewers on the status of Hurricane Isaias. NHC Deputy Director Jamie Rhome explained that Isaias has maintained its intensity throughout the day as a Category 3 Hurricane.
The peak winds have been measured at 115 mph, a slight drop from earlier in the day, while pressure is now at 959 mb.
"But by no means should you be distracted by these sorts of fluctuations because they aren't going to change the impacts to the coast over the next couple of hours," Rhome said.
He said landfall and accompanying extreme winds are expected within the next couple of hours, with the Alabama Weather Network's James Spann projecting a 7 p.m. landfall near Navarre Beach, Florida.
Rhome added that tropical-storm force winds are already on the coast, and he encouraged people even outside of the coastal region to pay attention to smaller cells that could form tornadoes and severe thunderstorms further inland.
"If you're out being curious and looking at the storm, it's really important for you to get to your safe place to ride out the storm now," Rhome said. "Because these little cells can pop up with little-to-no notice."
Widespread power outages are expected when the core of the storm hits land later this evening, with the weather moving inland across Alabama, eastern Mississippi, western Georgia and even as far north as Tennessee and western North Carolina.
"This is not just a coastal phenomenon," Rhome said. "This storm is moving fast at 17 mph, and what that means is that it allows the winds to spread further inland than you might usually expect with a hurricane making landfall."
Coastal storm surge is still projected to be 6-9 feet within the next couple of hours, and although Rhome said that fast storms generally don't bring with them excess rain, he emphasized that Isaias will expand as it moves inland and thus impact a wide area of the Southeastern United States.
Rhome said multiple tornadoes have already been reported in Florida, and he expects many more to be created over the course of the next day.
