As of 5 pm EDT/4 pm CDT today, Isaias is still a major hurricane with 115 mph maximum winds. Tropical storm conditions are now impacting southern Alabama as well as much of the coastal parts of the Florida Panhandle at the time of this post. Even across inland parts of the Florida Panhandle, the winds are beginning to approach tropical storm force.
The weather conditions are expected to continue to deteriorate rapidly over the next 3-4 hours across the entire Florida Panhandle and across southern Alabama.
Based on my latest analysis, the eyewall of Hurricane Isaias is still expected to reach the coastline of the western Florida Panhandle by about 7 pm CDT or so this evening & this is when the worst part of the hurricane will begin.
The area that I think that will experience the eyewall of Hurricane Isaias is in an area from Gulf Shores and Pensacola eastward through Destin and Fort Walton Beach to about Santa Rosa Beach. In this area, expect full-blown hurricane conditions for several hours this evening between about 7 pm and midnight CDT with wind gusts of over 100 mph expected. In addition, a storm surge of up to 8 to 9 feet above ground level is expected across the western Florida Panhandle tonight.
Tropical storm force winds are expected to affect areas as far east as Tallahassee and the Big Bend area of Florida this evening and as far west as southeastern Mississippi during this evening.
Further inland, all inland areas of the western Florida Panhandle and far south-central Alabama will be impacted by hurricane force winds during the overnight hours of tonight. This means that these hurricane force winds will bring down a lot of trees and produce widespread power outages and cause quite a bit in the way of wind damage up to and beyond I-10 in the western Florida Panhandle as well as across south-central Alabama.
It should be noted that tropical storm force winds with wind gusts of over 60 mph are expected as far north as central Alabama and western Georgia, including Birmingham and Atlanta during the day on Saturday. These strong winds are likely to bring down trees and cause widespread power outages across a large area of central Alabama and western Georgia during Saturday.
Again, it needs to be emphasized that areas including Gulf Shores, Pensacola, Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Santa Rosa Beach will take the full brunt of this hurricane between 7 pm CDT and midnight CDT this evening with wind gusts to over 100 mph & a storm surge of up to 8 to 9 feet expected.
More updates will be sent out as needed.