Tropical Storm Marco weakened to a low pressure area just south of Morgan City, Louisiana, as TS Laura is forecast to become a Major (Cat 3 or above) Hurricane before making landfall in the same approximate area as Marco late Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning. With most of the wind and storm surge to the northeast of Hurricanes, persons in southeastern Louisiana can expect Hurricane conditions while persons in southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the far northwestern part of Florida can expect limited Tropical Storm conditions (high waves, gusty winds and heavy rain from early Wednesday through later in the day Thursday.) Lowland flooding may take place in these locations. Areas closer to the center of Laura, as it moves inland a few hundred miles, may be placed under regional flash flood watches through the weekend. Persons from Houston, Texas, to Mobile, Alabama, should monitor your local Emergency Management Offices for official news and orders.
UPDATE: August 26, 2020 @ 5:45 AM EDT –
Many international tracking models are showing “Laura” as a Category 4 storm late Wednesday night before it makes landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border. That’s 130 to 156 MPH SUSTAINED wind with gusting to nearly 170 MPH near the eyewall. That will bring a vertical storm surge of up to 15 feet with 22 to 30 foot waves on top of the surge – just to the northeast of the center. Worst case scenario – a wall of waves 45 feet above normal Gulf level being pushed inland nearly 3 miles. Lake Charles, Louisiana, may be in the bullseye. Even the area just to the south of New Orleans may see a water rise of 4 to 6 feet with 11 to 15 foot waves on top of that. The New Orleans levee system averages 21 feet high in most places.
Please visit the National Hurricane Center website for official news and advisories.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
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“These are not official advisories. These updates and advisories are based upon information from our own computer models, NOAA, Local Weather Data Centers, deep water Buoy Data, and other publicly available sources. FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR PROPERTY AND PERSON, please refer to your Local, State, and Federal Authority updates for Official Advisories and Orders. For up to the minute advisories and official updates, it is essential that you monitor your local Emergency Government, NOAA and Local Media Broadcasts. Please do not make personal safety decisions based upon information presented here.”
Tropical Storm Research Center, Gulf Shores, Alabama
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