Possible TS Claudette

The Teche Area can breathe a sigh of relief as potential Tropical Storm Claudette continues its trek to the east of the region.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, the storm was about 125 miles south of Morgan City and continuing to move to the north-northeast at 16 mph, making its landfall overnight or early Saturday somewhere between Houma and Grand Isle.

Early tracks had the storm making landfall at Morgan City, which is now on the western edge of the cone of uncertainty.

Currently, a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from east of Morgan City to the Okaloosa/Walton County line in the Florida panhandle, including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and metropolitan New Orleans.

A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 6-12 hours. Under the current forecast, a storm surge of one to two feet is expected in Vermilion Bay as the storm passes.

A northeastward or east-northeastward motion across the southeastern United States is forecast after landfall through the weekend. Maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph (75 km/h) with higher gusts. Satellite images and surface observations indicate that the  circulation is gradually becoming better defined, and the system  still is likely to become a tropical or subtropical storm before  landfall.  

Regardless of its status, little change in strength is expected through landfall.  Weakening is forecast to begin after the system crosses the coast.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 205 miles (335 km) from the center. The estimated minimum central pressure based on surface  observations and Air Force Hurricane Hunter data is 1006 mb (29.71 inches).

The National Hurricane Center is giving the storm a 90 percent chance of developing into a tropical storm, at which time it will become Tropical Storm Claudette.