Hurricane Isaias Takes Aim at Gulf Coast as First Atlantic Hurricane of Year

Hurricane Isaias is now the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, taking aim at the Gulf Coast. The Hurricane Center's ten o'clock advisory last night had sustained winds of seventy-five miles per hour, with rapid strengthening expected to at least Category Two by tonight, possibly reaching one hundred nine miles per hour. Forecasters caution, however, that confidence in the exact track is below average.

A hurricane warning is up from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay and Gulf County line in Florida, with a storm surge warning from the mouth of the Mississippi to Steinhatchee, Florida. Landfall is expected late tomorrow into Saturday, with surge of five to seven feet and heavy rain the main threats. Florida's governor has declared a state of emergency in twenty-five Panhandle and Big Bend counties.

Preparations are under way along the coast. Shell and BP are evacuating offshore crews, Tyndall Air Force Base has moved aircraft to MacDill, and the Shrimp Festival is canceled. The SEC is also monitoring Saturday's Georgia-Alabama game as the storm approaches, with the timing of landfall late tomorrow into Saturday placing the weekend under the threat of surge and heavy rain across the warned area.

Elsewhere, Hurricane Rachel is holding at ninety miles per hour well southwest of Baja California, drifting west and expected to weaken, with no land threat. Typhoon Choi-wan is completing its transition to an extratropical low east of Japan, staying well offshore. Nolo remains a powerful typhoon near Wake Island, far from land, weakening gradually. A new tropical storm, Koguma, is intensifying east of the Marianas and could threaten Japan's Ogasawara islands early next week, and in the eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Simon formed yesterday. In Canada, the season's first blizzard warning continues for the Dempster Highway in Yukon.

From the October 8 episode of The World Briefing Room.