…SALLY MEANDERING OVER THE NORTH-CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO…
…EXPECTED TO RESUME A SLOW WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION.

*** A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for…
* Port Fourchon Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida State Line
* Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, Lake Borgne and Mobile Bay
*** A Hurricane Warning is in effect for…
* Morgan City Louisiana to the Alabama/Florida State Liner
* Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas incl. metropolitan NewOrleans
*** A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for…
* Alabama/Florida State Liner to Indian Pass Florida
* Intracoastal City Louisiana to west of Morgan City
*** A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for…
* Indian Pass to Ochlockonee River Florida

Hurricane conditions are expected to begin within the hurricane warning area tonight. Tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area today, and are expected to begin within the warning area later today. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion. For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office – www.weather.gov

A tornado or two may occur this afternoon through Tuesday over coastal areas of the Florida Panhandle, Mississippi, Alabama, and extreme southeastern Louisiana.

At 1 p.m. CDT, the center of Hurricane Sally was located about 125 miles (200 km) east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 160 miles (260 km) southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi. Sally has been meandering over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, but a west-northwest near 7 mph (11 km/h) should resume later today. A decrease in forward speed and a turn toward the northwest is forecast tonight and a northward turn is expected sometime on Tuesday. On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, approach southeastern Louisiana tonight, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area on Tuesday or Tuesday night. Afterward, Sally is expected to move slowly north-northeastward near the northern Gulf Coast through Wednesday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 90 mph (150 km/h) with higher gusts a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. 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). Additional strengthening is forecast to take place during the next day or so, and Sally is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves onshore along the north-central Gulf coast.

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide…
– Mouth of the Mississippi River to Ocean Springs, MS including Lake Borgne…7-11 ft
– Ocean Springs, MS to MS/AL Border…5-8 ft
– MS/AL Border to AL/FL Border including Mobile Bay…4-7 ft
– Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas…4-6 ft
– Port Fourchon, LA to Mouth of the Mississippi River…3-5 ft
AL/FL Border to Chassahowitzka, FL including Pensacola Bay, Choctawhatchee Bay, and Saint Andrew Bay…1-3 ft
– Burns Point, LA to Port Fourchon, LA…1-3 ft

Overtopping of local levees outside of the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System is possible where local inundation values may be higher than those shown above.

Sally is expected to be a slow moving system as it approaches land, producing 8 to 16 inches of rainfall with isolated amounts of 24 inches over portions of the central Gulf Coast from the western Florida Panhandle to far southeast Louisiana through the middle of the week. Life-threatening flash flooding is likely. In addition, this rainfall will likely lead to widespread minor to isolated major flooding on area rivers.

The next complete advisory will be issued by NHC at 4 p.m. CDT – www.hurricanes.gov