Winds have increased from 125 mph to 140 mph over the past few hours. Further strengthening is possible. For reference, a cat 5 begins at 156 mph and that is the highest category we go to. Catastrophic storm surge could move as much as 40-50 miles inland. This is going to be an absolutely devastating storm for the areas it makes landfall near. That storm surge could top 15 feet or more. The National Hurricane Center is warning that the storm surge is unsurvivable.
That landfall will occur tonight along the Texas/Louisiana border as an extremely powerful hurricane.
The storm will then track north and then east. The track will take it across Kentucky by Friday night. That keeps us on the side favoring rotation for some isolated tornadoes across Middle TN. I’ll have to keep a close eye on that. Outside of any storms, winds will gust to 40+ mph through the day Friday and Saturday. Heavy downpours of rain are also possible.
I’ll keep a close eye on things. Let’s keep those in the direct path of this storm close to our hearts tonight. And let’s hope they heed the warnings and move inland. This could be the worst storm on record to ever hit this part of the northern Gulf Coast.
