[h=3]By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY[/h]Updated
Tropical Storm Isaac now has a chance of striking New Orleans on Wednesday, the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, according to one computer model at the National Hurricane Center.
The likelihood of an anniversary repeat strike of the great 2005 storm is far from certain, though. Other models show the storm going farther east — to the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts, which were also slammed hard by Katrina's devastation in 2005.
It will take another day or two to get an accurate fix on where Isaac will hit land, National Hurricane Center meteorologist James Franklin says. The center expects to issue a hurricane watch this afternoon, or tonight at the latest, that reflects its best guess of where and when the storm will land.
"It would be a very unfortunate track for that area" to be where Isaac hits shore, Franklin said.
Isaac, now a powerful tropical storm, is expected to gain hurricane power in the next 24 hours.
Sunday afternoon the storm was rolling toward the Florida Keys. It will create storm surges of four to six feet on Florida's Gulf Coast, the hurricane center predicts. Wind gusts of up to 60 miles an hour have been reported in Broward County, where Miami is located.
The new course would mean the heart of the storm would avoid the Republican National Convention in Florida.
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Tropical Storm Isaac now has a chance of striking New Orleans on Wednesday, the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, according to one computer model at the National Hurricane Center.
The likelihood of an anniversary repeat strike of the great 2005 storm is far from certain, though. Other models show the storm going farther east — to the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts, which were also slammed hard by Katrina's devastation in 2005.
It will take another day or two to get an accurate fix on where Isaac will hit land, National Hurricane Center meteorologist James Franklin says. The center expects to issue a hurricane watch this afternoon, or tonight at the latest, that reflects its best guess of where and when the storm will land.
"It would be a very unfortunate track for that area" to be where Isaac hits shore, Franklin said.
Isaac, now a powerful tropical storm, is expected to gain hurricane power in the next 24 hours.
Sunday afternoon the storm was rolling toward the Florida Keys. It will create storm surges of four to six feet on Florida's Gulf Coast, the hurricane center predicts. Wind gusts of up to 60 miles an hour have been reported in Broward County, where Miami is located.
The new course would mean the heart of the storm would avoid the Republican National Convention in Florida.
For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to [email protected]. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.
USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.