Hurricane Isaias is taking aim on the Gulf coast this evening, expecting to make landfall around Pensacola FL before midnight as a strong category 2 or weak category 3 hurricane. This will bring some powerful winds (100mph to 115mph sustained… with gusts over 130mph) to the western panhandle of Florida, so hopefully those folks are prepared and remain safe.
For us locally in the Hudson Valley, we’ll be protected by high pressure for the next 24 to 36 hours, and that will mean a nice start to our weekend. Saturday should see partly to mostly cloudy skies, with seasonable temperatures… highs in the mid 60s.
Saturday night we’ll see high clouds increasing as Hurricane Isaias gets sheared apart over the eastern US after making landfall. This will spread clouds and rain showers northward, into the Ohio valley Saturday night. In the Hudson Valley, we’ll see increasing clouds and overnight lows in the 40s.
Sunday morning, the rainfall from the remnants of Isaias will move into the Ohio Valley and head into the Mid Atlantic states… gradually heading toward the Hudson Valley. The morning hours look mainly dry in the Hudson Valley, with the bulk of the moisture still being to our southwest in the Ohio Valley and western PA. However, as Isaias continues to weaken and the remnants move further inland on Sunday… the moisture associated with the system will be spread far out ahead of the Tropical Depression itself. Scattered rain showers and areas of steady rain will likely reach the Hudson Valley during the early to mid-afternoon hours on Sunday. So expect periods of rain showers to impact your afternoon and evening plans on Sunday.
The heaviest rain showers are expected Sunday night, with scattered showers being likely to persist into the daytime hours on Monday. Rainfall totals do not appear to be too extreme… with most of the region seeing between 0.50″ and 1.0″ of rain. However these systems can have a few surprises… so we’ll keep our eyes on these details and update you accordingly. We hope your weekend gets off to a great start!
-Bill