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Everyone in Louisiana, North Florida, and the Gulf be safe...
Hurricane watch for N. Florida as Ida grows to Cat 2
BY CURTIS MORGAN AND ROBERT SAMUELS
[email protected]
A hurricane watch was issued for the tip of the Florida panhandle on Sunday afternoon, as Hurricane Ida strengthened to a category 2 hurricane while it bubbled in the Gulf of Mexico.
As of 4 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said Ida's winds had grown to 100 miles per hour. Within 36 hours, it could bring those strong winds and rain to the Panhandle as well as southern Louisiana. The city of New Orleans is not a part of the hurricane watch.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken by the time it hits the Gulf Coast, with as much as eight inches of rain expected in those areas. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency there. And the National Guard and Louisiana state agencies were put on high alert as they continued to monitor the hurricane.
As for South Florida, the impact here is expected to be minimal, said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. Forecasters predict that the storm, now about 95 miles from the western tip of Cuba, is expected to move in a northwest direction and end up near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Forecasters said Ida could dump from three to five inches of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba, with 10 inches possible in isolated areas. Both areas also could see storm surges of three to four feet and dangerous surf and seas.
Mexico issued hurricane warnings for the Yucatan Peninsula from Playa del Carmen to Cabo Catoche, including Cancun and Cozumel. That means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.
Tropical-storm warnings were in effect for the Yucatan Peninsula from Punta Allen northward to San Felipe, western Cuba and the Isle of Youth. Grand Cayman Island discontinued warnings.
The state emergency operations center in Tallahassee was monitoring Ida's track and urging residents to do the same.
Ida formed with less than a month left in the hurricane season, which officially ends on Dec. 1, but forecasters said that's not all that unusual. The average is one or two a year with most, like Ida, forming in the late season hurricane hot house of the Caribbean.
This report was supplemented with information from the Associated Press.
BY CURTIS MORGAN AND ROBERT SAMUELS
[email protected]
A hurricane watch was issued for the tip of the Florida panhandle on Sunday afternoon, as Hurricane Ida strengthened to a category 2 hurricane while it bubbled in the Gulf of Mexico.
As of 4 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said Ida's winds had grown to 100 miles per hour. Within 36 hours, it could bring those strong winds and rain to the Panhandle as well as southern Louisiana. The city of New Orleans is not a part of the hurricane watch.
Forecasters expect the storm to weaken by the time it hits the Gulf Coast, with as much as eight inches of rain expected in those areas. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has declared a state of emergency there. And the National Guard and Louisiana state agencies were put on high alert as they continued to monitor the hurricane.
As for South Florida, the impact here is expected to be minimal, said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. Forecasters predict that the storm, now about 95 miles from the western tip of Cuba, is expected to move in a northwest direction and end up near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Forecasters said Ida could dump from three to five inches of rain over the Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba, with 10 inches possible in isolated areas. Both areas also could see storm surges of three to four feet and dangerous surf and seas.
Mexico issued hurricane warnings for the Yucatan Peninsula from Playa del Carmen to Cabo Catoche, including Cancun and Cozumel. That means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.
Tropical-storm warnings were in effect for the Yucatan Peninsula from Punta Allen northward to San Felipe, western Cuba and the Isle of Youth. Grand Cayman Island discontinued warnings.
The state emergency operations center in Tallahassee was monitoring Ida's track and urging residents to do the same.
Ida formed with less than a month left in the hurricane season, which officially ends on Dec. 1, but forecasters said that's not all that unusual. The average is one or two a year with most, like Ida, forming in the late season hurricane hot house of the Caribbean.
This report was supplemented with information from the Associated Press.
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