Tracking The Tropics: Barry Expected To Be A Hurricane By Landfall Saturday
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Tropical Storm Barry is maintaining strength as it heads toward the Louisiana coast, bringing dangerous storm surge, heavy rain, and high winds.. In addition, the National Hurricane Center says it is expected to be a hurricane by landfall on Saturday.
At 11 p.m., the center of the storm was about 75 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana.
Barry had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph as it moved to the west-northwest at 3 mph.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles to the east of the center.
A motion toward the northwest should begin during the next several hours, followed by a turn toward the north Saturday night or Sunday. On the forecast track, the center of Barry will approach the central or southeastern coast of Louisiana through tonight and then make landfall over the central Louisiana coast on Saturday.
After landfall, Barry is expected to move generally northward through the Mississippi Valley through Sunday night.
Strengthening is forecast before landfall, and Barry is expected to be a hurricane when the center reaches the Louisiana coast on Saturday.
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for...
* Intracoastal City to Grand Isle
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...
* Mouth of the Pearl River to Grand Isle
* Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas including metropolitan New Orleans
* Intracoastal City to Cameron
A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for...
* Intracoastal City to Biloxi
* Lake Pontchartrain
A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for...
* Biloxi to the Mississippi/Alabama border
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for...
* Mouth of the Mississippi River to Grand Isle
* Intracoastal City to Cameron
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for...
* East of the Mouth of the Pearl River to the Mississippi/Alabama border
The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.
Barry is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 10 to 20 inches over south-central and southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi, with isolated maximum amounts of 25 inches.