Today is Friday, October 9, 2026

8:45 Special Update: The National Hurricane Center is reporting that Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida at 8:30 this evening. The storm was a cat 2 at landfall, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

The rest of the info below is from the special post I made earlier this evening. My forecast remains on track.

Make sure you prepare for power outages and that you secure any outdoor decorations or anything else that is loose and that could fly around.

The storm looks impressive on satellite this evening. It remains a very high-end cat 2 this evening, with winds now at 110 mph. Wind shear is finally causing the storm to slowly weaken. This update just came in a few minutes ago.

There are no significant changes with the forecast path. The only changes to note are the shift to the northeast coming a little bit quicker and taking the center over Fentress County.

MM’s Hourly Forecast

I’ll have this updated in the morning forecast!

5-Day Forecast

MM says….Secure any loose outdoor objects before the winds get here! Prepare for sporadic power outages.

MM’s Weather Worries

We’ll kick off our Risher Roofing concern meter into action on Saturday! We’ll see how my concern changes through the day!

MM’s Aches-n-Pains Forecast

Hurricane Tornadoes

While the risk for tornadoes is low on Saturday, it’s certainly not zero. Tornadoes spawned from hurricanes almost always occur in the right, front quadrant of the storm. This is also where the gustiest winds and heaviest rainfall occurr (and it’s where the worst storm surge occurs at the coastline). These tornadoes are typically weak and short-lived. They are difficult to warn for because they can spin up so quickly. They can even occur in heavy showers that have little or no lightning.

These are typical of the tornadoes that the NWS may fail to warn us for on the plateau. The radar beam is at around 10,000 feet by the time it gets to the plateau, making it difficult to see shallow and weak rotation with such storms.

Thankfully, the NWS does a great job overall of warning for storms. For instance, of the 30 documented tornadoes in Cumberland County since records began, three were unwarned. (Note: Eight of the 30 occurred before warnings were issued for storms). Of the three that were unwarned, ALL occurred on days when we knew there was a risk for a tornado. One of the three occurred in a severe t-storm warning where the risk of a tornado was mentioned. Another of the three had a tornado warning (Pleasant Hill) but it came out too late, as the tornado had already lifted. We have never had an unwarned tornado that hurt or killed anyone. Ever. For that, we can be very thankful. Every single significant tornado on the Cumberland Plateau has had a tornado warning and most of the time that warning was multiple minutes long. I say this to reinforce the idea of weather radios. With the NWS warning so well for storms, that means your weather radio would go off (and storm siren if someone gets the warning and sounds the siren).

The graph below shows how tornadoe’s form with tropical systems. Basically, faster winds just off the ground casue a rolling motion. If that rolling motion can be tilted upward by an updraft, it can become vertical, tighten, and become a tornado.

I’ll keep an eye on things and let you know if there’s anything you need to know about!

I want to give a quick shout-out to the York Elementary 4th Graders! I spoke with them this afternoon about the weather and they were a fantastic group of kiddos! Thanks for having me out (and how well-timed was this visit? lol).

You all take care and have a great evening!

Thank You, Sponsors!

Other important weather information will be shared when needed. This includes additional severe weather information, model data, drought info, hurricane info, and more. Some of these can be found as tabs to this page at any time.

Disclaimer: This website/app should never be considered your primary source of severe weather warnings.