30th August 2023
Major cat 3 hurricane currently battering Florida Idalia with winds up to 125mph at landfall
By SNN
Hurricane Idalia has made landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast, where it's bringing catastrophic, life-threatening storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rain.
The center of Idalia came ashore near Keaton Beach at 7:45 a.m. EDT with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, making it a strong Category 3. This preliminarily ties as the strongest hurricane landfall on record in Florida's Big Bend region.
The hurricane briefly hit Category 4 intensity this morning, but the start of an eyewall replacement cycle reduced maximum sustained winds slightly when the storm made landfall. This does not reduce the severity of the hurricane's impacts.
At 800 AM EDT (1200 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Idalia was located by Tallahassee radar near latitude 29.9 North, longitude 83.5 West.
Idalia is moving toward the north-northeast near 18 mph (30 km/h). A north-northeastward motion is expected through the morning, with Idalia's center forecast to move into southern Georgia later today.
Idalia is forecast to turn toward the northeast and east-northeast, moving near or along the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina late today and Thursday.
Maximum sustained winds are estimated near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Idalia is a category 3 hurricane on the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Although Idalia will weaken
further now that the center is inland, it is likely to still be a
hurricane while moving across southern Georgia, and near the coast of Georgia or southern South Carolina late today. Idalia is forecast to be a tropical storm while moving near the coasts of northeastern South Carolina and North Carolina tonight and on Thursday.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km).
The minimum central pressure is 950 mb (28.05 inches) based on
aircraft data.
TO RECEIVE NEWS NOTIFICATIONS VIA WHATS APP PLEASE SAVE OUR NUMBER AND SEND US A MESSAGE AT 7584896261 AND WE WILL ADD YOU TO OUR LIST
