Hurricane watches were issued for several Gulf Coast states late Thursday as Tropical Storm Ida, which formed in the Caribbean Sea, barreled toward the southern U.S. with forecasters warning it could rapidly strengthen into one of the strongest storms of the Atlantic hurricane season. The new warnings were issued along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, including New Orleans, Mississippi and parts of the Alabama coastline. A tropical storm watch was also issued along parts of the Alabama coastline to the Florida border.
The system is taking aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast, but conditions appear right for the storm to cause extreme weather for inland regions as well, according to a Thursday afternoon AccuWeather briefing. Senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said parts of Tennessee still reeling from deadly floods are at risk for more heavy rain. The storm is shaping up to be "probably be the strongest storm of the season thus far,” Kottlowski said. It could make landfall before the end of the weekend as a hurricane, giving people in its path little time to prepare or evacuate, Kottlowski said.
As of 11 p.m. EDT Thursday, the storm was located 65 miles west of the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean Sea and was moving northwest at about 12 mph. While Ida had maximum sustained winds of only about 40 mph, its track was set to travel over unusually warm water in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center said the system will undergo "rapid intensification." When the system reaches the northern Gulf coast on Sunday, the Hurricane Center predicts it will be "at or near major hurricane intensity."
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