Isaías makes landfall late Monday night in Ocean Isle Beach

ROANOKE, Va. – 11:15 P.M. MONDAY UPDATE:

Hurricane Isaias made landfall between 11:10 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, just north of the North Carolina-South Carolina border with winds of 85 mph as a Category 1 hurricane.

A weather station in Oak Island, N.C. recently reported a sustained wind of 76 mph with a gust of 87 mph.

11 P.M. MONDAY UPDATE:

Isaias was about 25 miles east northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and about 50 miles southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina as of 11 p.m. Monday night.

Hurricane conditions were spreading onto the coast of eastern South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina as of 11 p.m. Strong winds and heavy rainfall are likely.

Isaias was traveling with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

8 P.M. MONDAY UPDATE:

Isaias has regained hurricane strength and is expected to make landfall Monday night with dangerous winds and storm surge.

The eastern Carolinas to the mid-Atlantic coast will continue to see strong winds and heavy rainfall Monday night and Tuesday.

Isaias was about 60 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina and 60 miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as of 8 p.m. Monday.

11 A.M. MONDAY UPDATE:

Isaias is choking on drier air and is struggling to regain hurricane strength. This will likely make landfall between Myrtle Beach and Wilmington Monday night. It will continue to move north along I-95. We expect it to contribute to some heavy rain and storms here locally Monday. The most rain we see Tuesday will be early in the morning in Lynchburg and Southside.

11 P.M. SUNDAY UPDATE:

Isaias is just below hurricane strength tonight and the National Hurricane Center expects it to be very close to the 74 mph threshold as it makes landfall near the North Carolina and South Carolina border Monday night.

Coastal Virginia has been upgraded to a tropical storm warning ahead of Isaias’ impacts.

We’re expecting 1-3″ rainfall totals across most of the area through Tuesday and many of us are under a flash flood watch starting either tomorrow morning or afternoon.

5 P.M. SUNDAY UPDATE:

The National Hurricane Center says that Tropical Storm Isaias has strengthened slightly this afternoon. It now has winds at 70 miles per hour.

Coastal Virginia has been placed under a tropical storm watch until further notice as the storm is expected to pass over those regions Tuesday.

Locally, we’re expected to be on the west side of the storm, which would spare us from most of the wind associated with Isaias. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for most of our area from Monday morning through Tuesday evening, due to the heavy rain threat.

8 A.M. SUNDAY UPDATE:

Isaias stayed at tropical storm status overnight and the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center has the storm staying below hurricane criteria for the rest of its lifespan.

The storm has sustained winds of 65 miles per hour, a central pressure of 996 millibars and is moving northwest at 8 miles per hour along the Florida coastline.

The track has the storm taking a classic East Coast path, making landfall somewhere in the Carolinas Monday night or Tuesday morning.

5 P.M. SATURDAY UPDATE:

The latest update from the National Hurricane Center shows that Isaias is now a tropical storm with wind speeds of 70 mph. In order to stay a hurricane, winds of 74 mph are required.

Unfortunately, the storm is also slowing down which means more rain and flooding likely in the Bahamas. Isaias is moving northwest at 10 mph.

While the storm has weakened for the time being, it is expected to regain strengthen and become a hurricane as it closes in on the Florida coast.

2 P.M. SATURDAY UPDATE:

Isaias remains a category 1 hurricane this afternoon with winds of 75 mph and gusting up to 100 mph. Isaias is currently 115 miles south of Freeport in Grand Bahama Island. The current track is to the northwest at 12 mph.

11 P.M. FRIDAY UPDATE:

Hurricane Isaias is moving northwest at 15 mph. It has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. Strong winds and heavy rains will continue over the central Bahamas.

At 11 p.m. Friday, Isaias was about 135 miles SSE of Nassau.

Isaias is expected to approach the southeast coat of Florida on Saturday.

5 P.M. FRIDAY UPDATE:

Hurricane Isaias is moving northwest at 16 mph. It has Maximum sustained winds at 75 mph and is expected to remain a hurricane though Monday.

5 P.M THURSDAY UPDATE:

Tropical Storm Isaías is currently located near the Dominican Republic and is quickly moving northwest at 20 mph. Winds are sustained at 60 mph and gusting up to 70 mph.

11 A.M. UPDATE:

Tropical Storm Isaías is currently located near the Dominican Republic and is quickly moving northwest at 20 mph. Winds are sustained at 60 mph and gusting up to 70 mph.

The tropical system is expected to approach the Florida coast this weekend. Strong winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall will affect portions of the east coast beginning this weekend through the start of next week.

It’s taken quite some time, but Tropical Storm Isaías formed Wednesday night south of Puerto Rico. This is the earliest in the season that we’ve had our ‘I’ storm.

This has been a challenging storm to forecast, and it still is in some sense.

Forecast Challenges

- Its path takes it through the Dominican Republic and Haiti (aka. Hispaniola). You may think of the Caribbean islands as just flat land, but it turns out that Hispaniola has some very rugged terrain. This can disrupt storms that move through there.

- It just now has developed a clear and defined center. Now that that has happened, the expectation is for forecast models to get a better grasp as to where it’s headed. That’s why you see such a wide cone in the top graphic of this article. More on that below.

- Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we don’t have the benefit of transcontinental flights. These flights collect weather data that is then fed into forecast models, which makes them perform better.

What to Expect

If you have plans to go to the beach, expect rip currents to begin developing this weekend with storms increasing Sunday into early next week. The projected path takes this storm close to Florida. Where it goes beyond that is still being determined.

If it impacts our weather here in southwest and central Virginia, it wouldn’t be until next Monday and Tuesday.

A more inland track would throw more moisture in our direction. This would result in heavy rain, flooding and the possibility of severe weather. A track closer to the coast/offshore wouldn’t be quite as impactful to us. In fact, we would notice a drop in humidity by Tuesday and next Wednesday.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on air, online and on Your Local Weather Authority app.

HOW TO PRONOUNCE ISAIAS