HOUSTON – As Tropical Storm Isaac makes its way into the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters are having a difficult time predicting where it will hit land.
Tropical Storm Isaac continues its west, northwest movement at 15 miles per hour as it hits the warmer water of the southeast Gulf of Mexico. Isaac stayed at tropical storm strength as it made its way just west of the Key West Florida, while dropping an average of about two inches of rain with winds gusting as high as 52 miles per hour in Miami.
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Current maximum sustained wind is 65 miles per hour, but that is expected to strengthen as the storm continues its west, northwesterly trek for the next 24-48 hours. Current projection calls for a slight turn to the north by Monday afternoon as the storm is expected to reach hurricane strength.
Landfall is still a tricky forecast, but the current thinking by the National Hurricane Center is somewhere between Morgan City, Louisiana to the west and Destin, Florida to the east. A Hurricane warning is in effect for those areas, which means hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within the next 36-48 hours.
Areas to the west of the hurricane warning area, including all of southeast Texas, should still be on high alert as the forecast models continue to have a west leaning with subsequent computer runs on Sunday.
Our local weather calls for temps in the mid 90s with a 20 percent rain chance for Monday and Tuesday. Depending on what Isaac does, the forecast beyond Wednesday is problematic, but currently calls for dry and mid 90s until next weekend.