Hurricane Isaias forecast to be near Florida by Saturday

SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (WLOX) - Hurricane Isaias was moving northwest near eastern Cuba early Friday morning. It intensified from tropical storm to hurricane overnight. And it is moving a bit more slowly than yesterday as it begins to be steered northward in a few days away from the Gulf.

Isaias is forecast to remain a hurricane as it nears Florida this weekend. Isaias will bring significant wind, rain, and surge impacts to The Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos. It could be a close call for the Florida coast with the dangerous eyewall of the storm expected to be less than 100 miles offshore at times as it travels northward, parallel to the coastline before moving upwards along the rest of the U.S. east coast.

Good news for us is that the forecast track still keeps the storm out of the Gulf away from us and turns it northward up the east U.S. Coast. It is still not considered a direct threat to the MS Coast and there are no tropical threats to the MS Coast over the next five days. But some significant surge, rain, and wind impacts will be possible along parts of the east U.S. coast.

There’s two other tropical waves out in the Atlantic that may become depressions or storms. Hurricane season typically peaks over the next six weeks.

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