At 8:00 p.m. EDT, the center of Hurricane Sally was located about 100 miles (155 kilometers east of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 135 miles (215 kilometers southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi. Sally is moving toward the west-northwest near 5 mph (8 kph), and this motion is expected to continue through Tuesday morning.
Sally is packing sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) with higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles (205 km). The minimum central pressure based on data from the Air Force Reserve and NOAA reconnaissance aircraft is 988 mb (29.18 inches).
The National Hurricane Center reiterates that Hurricane Sally is a very dangerous storm, with life-threatening storm surge, particularly in parts of southeast Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, hurricane-force winds and flooding rainfall on the Gulf Coast and farther inland across the Southeast this week.
A Hurricane Warning has been issued from Morgan City, Louisiana, eastward to Navarre, Florida, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans. Hurricane conditions (winds 74 mph or greater) are expected in some parts of this area by late Monday night or early Tuesday.
Tropical storm warnings and watches are in effect for East of of Navarre Florida to Indian Pass Florida, including parts of Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle.
Storm Surge warnings are in effect for Port Fourchon Louisiana to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line in Florida, including Mobile Bay, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and Lake Borgne. This means there will be a danger of life-threatening inundation from storm surge within the warning area in the next 36 hours.
“On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move near the coast of southeastern Louisiana … Tuesday, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area Tuesday night or Wednesday,” the NHC said.
Ahead of Hurricane #Sally, Alabama's Dauphin Island is already flooding: pic.twitter.com/BPi4WHUWSG
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 14, 2020
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that because this season has been extremely busy, we are quickly going through the list of designated storm names. Wilfred is the last name left in the 2020 season.
The National Hurricane Center will have to go to the Greek alphabet to name any further storms; a tactic meteorologists have had to use only once before, in 2005, which had a total of 28 named storms.
