Forecasters: Isaac on the verge of hurricane status | News

BILOXI, MS (WLOX)- Isaac remains a tropical storm.  But, the 4:00 am advisory from the National Hurricane Center issues this warning:  "Isaac on the verge of becoming a hurricane.  Significant storm surge and freshwater flood threat to northern gulf coast."

Isaac will likely bring plenty of rain, and the possibility of river flooding to South Mississippi. After that, nobody can say for sure what impact we'll feel from the storm heading toward the central Gulf of Mexico.

Forecasters say Isaac is getting better organized, but not intensifying much.  It's current track has it heading toward the Louisiana side of the Mississippi/Louisiana border.

Here are the coordinates as of 4:00 am:

Location:  27.5N 88.1W
About 205 miles SSE of Biloxi
Maximum Sustained Winds:  70 MPH
Present Movement:  NW at 12 MPH
Minimum Central Pressure:  977 MB/28.85 inches

Isaac made a big shift to the west on Sunday, putting Mississippi and Louisiana directly in its path.  The current track has the storm making landfall on Wednesday in Louisiana.  And forecasters say that movement may continue.

"Models are continuing to favor a more westerly track at this point," WLOX Chief Meteorologist Mike Reader said. "As the storm gets better organized, confidence in what the models are predicting is higher.

"However, you don't pay attention to models, you pay attention to warnings. And we're under a hurricane warning."

South Mississippi went under a hurricane warning at 4pm Sunday afternoon. That warning is typically issued 36 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds.

Stay with the WLOX 24/7 weather team for the latest on what is still Tropical Storm Isaac. Visit the WLOX.com hurricane center for pertinent storm information like school closings, and shelter locations.

Be sure to have the WLOX News and WLOX 24/7 Weather apps downloaded on your smartphone devices. Those apps will give you the hurricane information you need right at your fingertips. Both are free and available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

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