Zeta Restrengthens to a Hurricane

Air Force reconnaissance found earlier this morning that Zeta had flight-level winds of 77 knots, which translates to about 70 knots or 81 mph at the surface. The central pressure is down to 988 mb and was steadily dropping over the past few hours.

That crew has completed their mission and is en route back to base, while Mission 15 is en route to the storm now.

The satellite presentation continues to improve with a large amount of cold cloud tops (<-80C, and some <-90C) now wrapping almost entirely around a distinct center. The center is now 365 miles SSW of the Mouth of the Mississippi River, or 230 miles south southwest of New Orleans. The hurricane is moving northwest, or perhaps even NNW now at 15 mph and is expected to continue to accelerate today and tonight. Landfall will occur around 4 p.m. today in southeast Louisiana near or west of Grand Isle as an 85 mph hurricane. The storm will be turning north northeast and the center will pass over New Orleans between 6-7 p.m. and into coastal Mississippi by 8 p.m. The center may be into Washington County, Alabama by 10 p.m. and into Central Alabama, perhaps over Perry County by 1 a.m. You can tell that the hurricane will be really moving quickly along at that time. That will not give it much time to weaken before it is deep into Central Alabama, where tropical storm force winds will spread across much of the area. This will cause widespread power outages, particularly between Birmingham and Montgomery. Tropical storm watches cover much of Central Alabama and will be upgraded to tropical storm warnings within the next hour. A new advisory and forecast package will be coming out within the hour.

Category: Alabama's Weather, ALL POSTS, Tropical