The latest outlook from the National Hurricane Center is that Hurricane Delta, now a category 4 storm, is continuing pretty much as expected towards the NW and should make its initial landfall on the northern tip of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico near Cancun on Wednesday. It will then continue to move through the Gulf as a strong storm although it may weaken somewhat over the cooler water in the Gulf. Landfall is expected to occur somewhere along the Louisiana coast on Friday night. Delta will then progress NNE, weakening over land.
Impacts for the Southeast include heavy surf along Florida’s west coast and along the northern Gulf Coast, periods of gusty winds and some potential small tornadoes to the right of the storm path, and some periods of heavy rain. In Georgia the rain will initially start in southern Georgia on Thursday afternoon and then move northward with the storm. After Delta makes landfall and moves NNE, northern Georgia could see rain increase Friday through Sunday night, while bands of rain may continue throughout the state until early Monday morning. Rain will continue to fall in North Carolina and Virginia on Monday as the remains of Delta continue to move towards the NE. Fortunately for farmers, once Delta pulls out it looks like the next week should be dry and sunny.
