Hurricane Francine is on course to hit Louisiana Wednesday afternoon or evening before moving over Mississippi Thursday, and could strengthen into a Category 2 by the time it makes landfall, according to the National Hurricane Center.
This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken at 7:10 p.m. EST shows ... [+]
The center on Wednesday morning said Francine had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and "some additional strengthening is possible" (the storm will be classified as a Category 2 if sustained winds reach 96 mph).
Hurricane-force winds were extending outward up to 40 miles from the center of the storm as of Wednesday morning, and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 115 miles (185 km).
A hurricane warning is in effect for the Louisiana coast from Vermilion/Cameron Line eastward to Grand Isle, while a hurricane watch covers metropolitan New Orleans and storm surge watches and warnings have been issued in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Francine could bring “life-threatening inundation” to areas under the storm surge warning, with a peak surge of up to 10 feet expected between the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and Port Fourchon along the Louisiana coast.
Francine is expected to bring rainfall of 4 to 8 inches to southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi, far southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday night—and could measure up to 12 inches in some places— which could lead to flash and urban flooding.
Winds in the New Orleans area could gust up to 80 to 100 mph, according to AccuWeather.
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When Francine makes landfall. The National Hurricane Center Predicts it will happen late Wednesday afternoon or into the evening, and the storm is expected to weaken quickly once it hits land.
Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the first to form since Ernesto on Aug. 12. Forecasters this year predicted the busiest storm season the agency has ever forecasted amid near-record warm sea surface temperatures and the return of the weather phenomenon known as La Niña, which lessens a wind shear effect in the Atlantic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted there will be 17 and 25 named storms, including between eight and 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes of category 3 and above this season (from June 1 to Nov. 30).