Tropical Storm Isaac
As of 1:00pm CDT, Tropical Storm Isaac was located approximately 25 miles southwest of Monroe, LA. The storm is moving NNW at 9 miles per hour and is expected to turn due north by late Thursday as it heads over Arkansas early on Friday and Missouri by Friday night. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reports that Isaac continues to drench southeast Louisiana and Mississippi with heavy rainfall. Additionally, although no longer a hurricane, Isaac continues to impose life-threatening hazards due to storm surges, inland flooding and tornadoes.
As it continues on a direct path to the coastline of southeastern Louisiana, including metropolitan New Orleans, Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to become a hurricane before it makes landfall on Wednesday, which marks the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
In its most recent weather advisory, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that heavy rains and flooding are affecting the Florida Gulf Coast and that there is a significant storm surge threat expected for the northern Gulf Coast.
Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to make landfall on Florida close to 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. EDT on Sunday but its presence is already being felt as residents in the Keys as well as in the southern tip of the peninsula make their final preparations to brace for the storm.
Tropical Storm Isaac will make landfall in Haiti on Friday close to midnight with sustained winds reaching 65 mph, a significant increase to the 60 mph recorded on Friday noon.
The storm is getting stronger and is expected to continue strengthening as it makes its way to the U.S.
While Tropical Storm Isaac's path is subject to change, current computer model predictions put Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in the storm's potential trajectory.
Tropical storm Isaac, which is currently slicing west across the Atlantic at 40 mph, is now expected to be a Category 1 hurricane by the time skirts along the coast of Tampa, Florida on Monday.
The National Hurricane Center advised that Isaac could become a hurricane by Friday.
As Tropical Storm Isaac plows west across the Atlantic at 21 mph, hurricane watches have been put into effect across the Caribbean, while officials in Tampa, Florida prepare to endure what is left of the storm when it skirts across the city's coastline next Monday.
In an advisory released Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami announced that Tropical Storm Isaac could become a hurricane by Thursday.
