A hurricane watch was issued Friday for parts of the Florida coast when Hurricane Isaias targets the Sunshine State.
Isaias, a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph, was located 295 miles southeast of Nassau and was moving northwest at 16 mph, beginning at 11 am from the National Hurricane Center. It is forecast to remain a Category 1 hurricane through the Bahamas as it moves along or parallel to the east coast of Florida, and then eventually across the entire east coast until early next week.
A hurricane watch has been issued, meaning hurricane conditions are possible, for parts of the east Florida coast from north Deerfield Beach to the Volusia-Brevard county line. A tropical storm warning was issued for the Florida coast from the North Ocean Reef to Sebastian Inlet, as well as for Lake Okeechobee.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
As Hurricane Isaias approaches Florida, the state can expect tropical storm conditions for Friday night in the form of gusty winds and increasing tropical rainfall. The big question mark for Florida remains whether Isaias will make landfall in the state this weekend or stay close to shore. Regardless of the arrival ashore, it will be possible to rain heavily and have strong winds on Saturday and Sunday across the east coast. By Monday, 2-4 inches of rain could fall, with rainfall up to 6 inches in places. The amount of rain that eventually falls will depend on how close the center of the Florida storm is.
However, before Isaias reaches Florida, he will hit parts of the Caribbean and the Bahamas on Friday with strong winds and torrential downpours.
Tropical storm conditions continued in parts of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday morning. Hurricane conditions were expected to begin in the southeastern Bahamas late Friday morning and spread to central and north-western Bahamas on Friday afternoon. A dangerous storm surge is forecast to raise water levels 3-5 feet above normal tidal levels in offshore winds in the Bahamas. In terms of rainfall, the Dominican Republic and northern Haiti could get 4 to 8 inches, with an isolated maximum total of 12 inches, while the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands get 4 to 8 inches. These amounts of rain will cause flash floods, landslides, and river floods.
For the Bahamas, Isaias has come less than a year since Hurricane Dorian hit the island chain during a relentless period of more than 48 hours.
Even after Isaias hits the Bahamas and Florida this weekend, forecasters will follow the storm through the middle of next week.
Heavy rains associated with Isaias are forecast to impact North and South Carolina early next week. Rain and wind could affect the coasts of the Middle and Northeast Atlantic on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Isaias is a fairly large storm, so even if the center of the storm does not touch land, a close approach to shore could have significant impacts. Hurricane force winds extend 35 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds 205 miles.
According to Phil Klotzbach, an Atlantic hurricane specialist at Colorado State University, when Isaias became a hurricane, it became the first time on record (since 1851) that the Atlantic Basin had two hurricane formations in the past week. of July. This comes immediately after Hurricane Hanna, which made landfall off the Texas coast on July 25.
