By Maureen Chowdhury, Liz Enochs, Travis Caldwell and Amir Vera, CNN
Storm surges are expected to impact much of the Southeast coast through tonight as Idalia continues its path sustaining tropical storm-force winds of up to 60 mph, according to an 11 p.m. ET update from the National Weather Service (NWS).
Coastal flooding is also expected in Storm Surge Watch areas in North Carolina on Thursday, NWS noted its latest update.
Idalia is currently 15 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina. Here's where you can track the storm's path.
From CNN staff
Idalia touched down on Florida's Gulf Coast early Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, making it the strongest to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years.
Idalia weakened to a tropical storm Wednesday night and continues to weaken as it treks across the Southeast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The center of the storm is now moving through South Carolina and is 60 miles west of Charleston, the center said. In addition to the surge, heavy rain, gusty winds and the threat for tornadoes will continue into the overnight hours for eastern sections of the Carolinas.
Here's what else you should know:
From CNN's Taylor Ward
The water level in Charleston Harbor has exceeded the forecast of 8.7 feet and is now at 9.03 feet, the National Weather Service posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This is the fifth-highest level ever recorded and is only slightly behind values recorded in 2016 with Hurricane Matthew (9.29 feet) and 2017 with Hurricane Irma (9.92 feet). The highest level was 12.52 feet in 1989 during Hurricane Hugo.
High tide was at 8:24 p.m. ET.
From CNN's Victoria Kennedy
The WC-130J Hercules aircraft from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron departed Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET.
The one time my soul left my body, I was on the flight deck with the pilots. It was dark for the majority of our flight. The lightning was so intense, and the hail hitting the plane was so intense.
“We’re about to go through the eye wall,” a crew member said.
I’m sitting up there with the pilots. We’re rocking and swaying, and all of a sudden, the flight controls start screaming, “Check Altitude. Check Altitude. Check Altitude. Throttle up. Throttle up.” And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this is what happens in the movies.’
And those pilots were just cool, calm and collected, and steered us through it. It was amazing. We had one moment where we dropped really rapidly because we hit a pocket and everybody on the plane literally levitated. We were kind of airborne.
We went from Category 2 to Category 4 in a short amount of time. We were in the eye of the storm for a good eight hours. Just zigzagging in and out, penetrating different parts of the eye wall and then going back into the eye. We knew we were in the eye and that’s when everybody kind of got up. They would get a drink of water.
In the eye itself, it was super calm. There was no turbulence. As soon as we started to rock a little bit everybody ran back to their jump seats and sat down. As we’re crisscrossing in and out, you can feel every time we reentered the eye wall. You could feel the intensity of the turbulence a little bit more, then a little bit more, and a little bit more. Every time.
Everybody’s job is so vital to the mission and so crucial to the safety of that flight that they can’t stop when there’s turbulence. They have to keep doing what they need to do. It was serious. It was all business. Hours later, the aircraft approached Keesler over the glistening water and landed safely.
It felt good to be back on solid ground.
From CNN's Taylor Ward
Hurricane Idalia has left its mark on history, proving to be a once-in-a-lifetime storm for parts of Florida.
Idalia was the first major hurricane – Category 3 or stronger – on record to track through Florida’s Apalachee Bay, a northern inlet in the Big Bend.
Here are some of the preliminary reports of rain and wind conditions from the National Weather Service:
Rain:
Wind:
From CNN Impact Your World
Hurricane Idalia roared across Florida’s Big Bend Wednesday morning as a dangerous and record-breaking Category 3 storm, leaving a deadly trail of destruction from powerful winds, pounding rain, and catastrophic storm surge.
Many organizations began preparing ahead of the storm’s arrival and are already on the ground responding to the disaster.
Learn about ways you can help support relief efforts by clicking here.
CNN Impact Your World will continue to monitor and vet ways to help and update as information comes in.
From CNN's Rachel Ramirez
Before making landfall as a Category 3 storm, Hurricane Idalia went through a remarkable period of rapid intensification Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Its maximum winds increased by 55 mph over the course of just 24 hours.
With a vast pool of warm ocean water to draw from, the storm converted that heat into wind power. Strong winds are one of the more dangerous aspects of hurricanes, in addition to storm surge and heavy rainfall.
In a post on Wednesday, meteorologist and hurricane expert Jeff Masters at Yale Climate Connections drew the line between the extra warmth, higher wind speeds and how much damage the storm could inflict. Recent research has suggested that for every 1 degree Celsius that ocean temperatures rise, hurricane wind speeds could increase by as much as 4 to 5% — which in turn can amplify the storm’s destructive potential by 40 to 50%, Masters pointed out.
In 1987, Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, theorized that hurricane wind speed can be expected to increase by about 5% for every 1 degree Celsius that tropical ocean temperatures rise.
Tom Knutson, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told CNN that 4 to 5% is “toward the higher end of the range across studies.” Some studies, like one that Knutson authored, showed a 3.75% increase.
But that increase — however small — can dramatically increase a hurricane’s damage potential, Masters explained.
“A 4-5% increase in hurricane winds may not seem like a big deal, but damage from a hurricane increases exponentially with an increase in winds,” Masters wrote. “For example, according to NOAA, a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds will do 10 times the damage of a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds. This includes damage not only from winds, but also from storm surge, inland flooding, and tornadoes.”
Storm surges are expected to impact much of the Southeast coast through tonight as Idalia continues its path sustaining tropical storm-force winds of up to 60 mph, according to an 11 p.m. ET update from the National Weather Service (NWS).
Coastal flooding is also expected in Storm Surge Watch areas in North Carolina on Thursday, NWS noted its latest update.
Idalia is currently 15 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina. Here's where you can track the storm's path.
Idalia touched down on Florida's Gulf Coast early Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane, making it the strongest to make landfall in the Big Bend region in more than 125 years.
Idalia weakened to a tropical storm Wednesday night and continues to weaken as it treks across the Southeast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The center of the storm is now moving through South Carolina and is 60 miles west of Charleston, the center said. In addition to the surge, heavy rain, gusty winds and the threat for tornadoes will continue into the overnight hours for eastern sections of the Carolinas.
Here's what else you should know:
The water level in Charleston Harbor has exceeded the forecast of 8.7 feet and is now at 9.03 feet, the National Weather Service posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This is the fifth-highest level ever recorded and is only slightly behind values recorded in 2016 with Hurricane Matthew (9.29 feet) and 2017 with Hurricane Irma (9.92 feet). The highest level was 12.52 feet in 1989 during Hurricane Hugo.
High tide was at 8:24 p.m. ET.
The WC-130J Hercules aircraft from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron departed Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET.
The one time my soul left my body, I was on the flight deck with the pilots. It was dark for the majority of our flight. The lightning was so intense, and the hail hitting the plane was so intense.
“We’re about to go through the eye wall,” a crew member said.
I’m sitting up there with the pilots. We’re rocking and swaying, and all of a sudden, the flight controls start screaming, “Check Altitude. Check Altitude. Check Altitude. Throttle up. Throttle up.” And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this is what happens in the movies.’
And those pilots were just cool, calm and collected, and steered us through it. It was amazing. We had one moment where we dropped really rapidly because we hit a pocket and everybody on the plane literally levitated. We were kind of airborne.
We went from Category 2 to Category 4 in a short amount of time. We were in the eye of the storm for a good eight hours. Just zigzagging in and out, penetrating different parts of the eye wall and then going back into the eye. We knew we were in the eye and that’s when everybody kind of got up. They would get a drink of water.
In the eye itself, it was super calm. There was no turbulence. As soon as we started to rock a little bit everybody ran back to their jump seats and sat down. As we’re crisscrossing in and out, you can feel every time we reentered the eye wall. You could feel the intensity of the turbulence a little bit more, then a little bit more, and a little bit more. Every time.
Everybody’s job is so vital to the mission and so crucial to the safety of that flight that they can’t stop when there’s turbulence. They have to keep doing what they need to do. It was serious. It was all business. Hours later, the aircraft approached Keesler over the glistening water and landed safely.
It felt good to be back on solid ground.
Hurricane Idalia has left its mark on history, proving to be a once-in-a-lifetime storm for parts of Florida.
Idalia was the first major hurricane – Category 3 or stronger – on record to track through Florida’s Apalachee Bay, a northern inlet in the Big Bend.
Here are some of the preliminary reports of rain and wind conditions from the National Weather Service:
Rain:
Wind:
Hurricane Idalia roared across Florida’s Big Bend Wednesday morning as a dangerous and record-breaking Category 3 storm, leaving a deadly trail of destruction from powerful winds, pounding rain, and catastrophic storm surge.
Many organizations began preparing ahead of the storm’s arrival and are already on the ground responding to the disaster.
Learn about ways you can help support relief efforts by clicking here.
CNN Impact Your World will continue to monitor and vet ways to help and update as information comes in.
Before making landfall as a Category 3 storm, Hurricane Idalia went through a remarkable period of rapid intensification Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Its maximum winds increased by 55 mph over the course of just 24 hours.
With a vast pool of warm ocean water to draw from, the storm converted that heat into wind power. Strong winds are one of the more dangerous aspects of hurricanes, in addition to storm surge and heavy rainfall.
In a post on Wednesday, meteorologist and hurricane expert Jeff Masters at Yale Climate Connections drew the line between the extra warmth, higher wind speeds and how much damage the storm could inflict. Recent research has suggested that for every 1 degree Celsius that ocean temperatures rise, hurricane wind speeds could increase by as much as 4 to 5% — which in turn can amplify the storm’s destructive potential by 40 to 50%, Masters pointed out.
In 1987, Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, theorized that hurricane wind speed can be expected to increase by about 5% for every 1 degree Celsius that tropical ocean temperatures rise.
Tom Knutson, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told CNN that 4 to 5% is “toward the higher end of the range across studies.” Some studies, like one that Knutson authored, showed a 3.75% increase.
But that increase — however small — can dramatically increase a hurricane’s damage potential, Masters explained.
“A 4-5% increase in hurricane winds may not seem like a big deal, but damage from a hurricane increases exponentially with an increase in winds,” Masters wrote. “For example, according to NOAA, a Category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds will do 10 times the damage of a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds. This includes damage not only from winds, but also from storm surge, inland flooding, and tornadoes.”
