High Winds, Heavy Rain… Ahead of IDA
Gulf Coast Radar, Image: NOAA Image is Old!
Click on the following link for the latest radar image of Ida. Ida continues to plow toward the Gulf Coast, creating high winds, and dumping heavy rain on Panama City, Florida, Mobile, Alabama and coastal areas outside of New Orleans, Louisiana. TV forecasters in those areas can give you the latest watches and warnings, and current position of Tropical Storm Ida. It appears the worst of the heavy rain is out ahead of the storm.
Ida Track, Image: NOAA click to enlarge
-Dawn Brown
Ida Weakens In Hostile Environment
Ida weakens due to wind shear, cold sea surface temps, and dry air. All hurricane warnings have been dropped. Tropical storm warnings from Louisiana to Florida. Isolated heavy rainfall along the northern Gulf Coast expected. It looks like Ida is transitioning from a tropical to an extra-tropical or winter-type low pressure system. High winds and isolated heavy rain will still be a problem.
9AM Update from National Hurricane Center:
The center of tropical storm Ida was located near latitude 26.5 North, longitude 88.3 West, or about 185 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi river and about 285 miles south-southwest of Pensacola, Florida
Ida is moving toward the north-northwest near 17 mph. A turn toward the north and then to the north-northeast is expected over the next 24 hours. On the forecast track, the center of Ida is expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast Tuesday morning. After landfall, a turn to the east is expected on Tuesday.
Maximum sustained winds continue to decrease and area now near 70 mph with higher gusts. Some additional weakening is expected today as Ida approaches the coast.
-Dawn Brown
Tropical Storm Ida Will Bring Heavy Rain
Tropical Storm Ida 5-day Track, Image: NHC, NOAA
Tropical Storm Ida has made a comeback, packing 60 mile per hour winds this Saturday morning as it quickly makes a beeline for the central Gulf of Mexico. The northern Gulf Coast could be slammed with heavy rain Monday and Tuesday. You’ll notice on the hurricane tracking map from the National Hurricane Center Ida will become extra-tropical or more like a winter-type cyclone by Tuesday. Strong winds and large waves could still affect portions of the Gulf Coast, and you need to watch your local TV forecast for the latest watches and warnings — go to GET YOUR LOCAL TV FORECAST! in the right hand column of this website. You can see from the tracking map that even though portions of Southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida will receive some heavy rain and gusty winds, they will avoid the damaging winds and coastal surge associated with a tropical storm or hurricane.
Tropical Storm Ida Visible Satellite, Image: NOAA
The storm is looking fairly healthy this morning. This wasn’t unexpected as it is over a deep well of warm water over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. It is possible it could strengthen into a hurricane in the next 24-hours as it makes its way through the Yucatan Straits. Once Ida moves into the Gulf of Mexico, it will encounter cooler waters and high wind shear. (60-90 miles an hour) For more information on wind shear and how it affects storms, see my previous blog from earlier this week.
-Dawn Brown
Tropical Storm Ida
- Wind Shear, Image: University of Wisconsin
Tropical Storm Ida is spinning off the coast of Nicaragua… and is expected to dump a lot of heavy rain in Central America. I’m a little embarrassed about the graphic I’m posting to my website, mainly because it’s very difficult to read. It’s important to show folks living in the United States, because it gives you an idea of the kind of environment a storm like Ida faces at this time of year if it moves close to the United States. Ida is the blob of white circled in red on the map. The white outlines to the left show Central America. The yellow lines on the map tell us the kind of wind shear occurring near Ida right now.