00:00John, there's really three impacts that you've outlined as what people will likely remember this storm for.
00:07That's right. We're going to have a wide variety of dangerous impacts from the storm, and this is one to
00:11take very seriously.
00:12It's a great time to download the free AccuWeather app, turn on push notifications so we can send you weather
00:17warnings that are issued for your community.
00:19And we have so many resources there, including our interactive maps and other tools.
00:23But when we look at the storm, here are three impacts that we think the storm is going to be
00:27remembered for.
00:28One of them is going to be the dangerous storm surge impacts, and Anna, they're going to extend well east
00:33of where the storm makes landfall.
00:35Yeah, if we take a look at our forecast map here, so you can see where landfall is.
00:40It's where we're expecting the highest storm surge, but it goes well into Florida, too.
00:45That's correct. Areas along the Alabama-Florida border, near and just to the east of where the storm makes landfall,
00:53that's where we're going to be dealing with a 6- to 10-foot storm surge with an AccuWeather local
00:57storm surge max of 15 feet.
00:59That's a life-threatening storm surge in those areas.
01:02That's why you want to take, do not want to be near that kind of rapidly rising water.
01:06And that water, though, is also going to be drawn toward the coast by the winds associated with the hurricane.
01:12This is a very vulnerable part of the Florida coastline here to storm surge.
01:17So look at this, even in the Big Bend region of Florida, 3- to 6-foot storm surge and
01:23a 1- to 3-foot surge all the way down to Tampa Bay
01:26and as far west as some of the parishes south and west of Louisiana, south and west of New Orleans
01:32and Louisiana.
01:33So we have a wide area with storm surge impacts far away from just where the storm is making landfall.
01:39They will be most severe there, but dangerous risks from storm surge and rising water into all the coastline areas
01:46and the bays and inlets here along a several hundred-mile portion of the Gulf Coast.
01:51And, John, it's those bays and inlets that are going to cause a lot of problems because that water, it's
01:55going to linger.
01:56It's not just going to, you know, high tide especially, storm surge comes in and then gets out of here.
02:01All right.
02:02The water can persist there.
02:04High water can persist on that.
02:05And remember, these values, there's waves on top of the storm surge as well, so that can result in additional
02:12risks.
02:12Now, wind is what's driving storm surge, but even the wind itself is a concern.
02:18It sure is.
02:19And because it's going to be, the storm is going to be interacting with another storm approaching from the west,
02:23that means that as the hurricane moves toward the coast, the wind field is going to be broadening out.
02:29And that means that the storm surge impacts can be more substantial.
02:32And then look at where we're going to be getting damaging wind gusts well inland here, gusts near the coast
02:38of 100 to 120 miles per hour.
02:40But look well inland here across Alabama.
02:43We're talking about wind gusts 80 to 100 miles an hour and 40 to 60 miles an hour all the
02:48way up to parts of Tennessee and even into the Appalachians as well.
02:52So there can be power outages and tree damage more widespread in this area, especially closer to portions of Alabama,
03:01because of the fact that we're going to have those damaging winds occurring further inland than they might in other
03:06storms.
03:07So that's something to keep in mind here in terms of the risk for tree damage and power outages elevated
03:12with the storm.
03:13And power outages that could last for days.
03:15Now, we do want to get to the third impact here.
03:18And this one is a significant tornado threat.
03:20But Aaron was talking about that.
03:22This storm may produce an outbreak of tornadoes.
03:26Some of them could be particularly intense.
03:28And the thing I want to highlight is this is way south and east of where the storm is going
03:32to be.
03:32So look out Georgia, parts of Florida, up into the Carolinas, and eventually in the mid-Atlantic as we head
03:39toward Sunday into Sunday night.
03:41These are going to be rain bands associated with the storm, quick spin-up tornadoes.
03:46This could be a lasting part of the legacy of this storm as well and result in more damage in
03:51more communities.
03:52Another reason to download the free AccuWeather app and turn on those push notifications.
03:56Certainly want to have those alerts.
03:58AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter, thanks as always for joining us and sharing your insight.
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