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| Satellite image of extremely dangerous hurricane Laura located over the central Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday morning. Laura is expected to become a Category 4 hurricane today before moving inland over extreme southwest Louisiana tonight. (NOAA) |
Hurricane Laura is expected to deepen rapidly today into a monster category 4 hurricane as the storm approaches the northern Gulf Coast. Early Wednesday morning, the center of Laura was located 540 km southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving northwest at 24km/h. Peak winds overnight have increased to 175km/h (110mph). Further intensification is likely today as Laura moves over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Widespread hurricane and storm warnings are now in effect from the upper Texas coast eastward towards Mississippi.
Laura is forecast to make landfall late this evening or overnight, with catastrophic storm surge expected to the right of where the center comes onshore. A surge of 12-15 feet is forecast along the southwest Louisiana coast, including low-lying Cameron Parish. Preparations and evacuations are being rushed to completion this morning. Tropical storm force winds and water will begin arriving at the coast early this afternoon.
Hurricane hunter aircraft have reported that Laura has become a larger storm overnight, with hurricane and tropical storm winds extending outward far from the center of the storm. Strong winds, torrential rain and flash flooding will impact a large portion of Texas and Louisiana including metro Houston tonight and Thursday. Those conditions will spread into northern Louisiana, southeast Oklahoma and Arkansas on Friday.
I will post further updates on hurricane Laura later today.
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