While the disheveled, lopsided appearance might suggest otherwise, Barry strengthen today.
As of the 7 PM CDT advisory, Barry had maximum sustained winds of 65 MPH and a minimum central pressure of 993 millibars. Movement was to the west-northwest at 4 MPH.
Landfall tonight or early tomorrow
A northwest turn is expected tonight, with landfall now looking to be sometime overnight in the vicinity of Vermilion Bay.
Barry forecast to become a hurricane (again)
Barry should intensify up until landfall despite northerly shear and upper-level dry air.
“While not explicitly shown in the forecast, Barry is expected to become a hurricane near the time it makes landfall between the 12 and 24 h forecasts points.”
While not shown in the official forecast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is once again predicting Barry to become a hurricane.
This is probably a bit confusing.
However, the reason is fairly simple: the time at which Barry is expected to be at hurricane intensity is between forecast points (12-hour intervals are used by the NHC up to day 2).
Tropical storm conditions already being observed
Tropical storm conditions have already begun to overspread coastal southeast Louisiana.
💨 Strong wind gusts will be possible near and E of the projected storms path. Peak wind gusts to tropical storm force may be possible W of I-55 and New Orleans, which does include Baton Rouge. Hurricane force wind gusts possible along and near the storms landfall. #lawx #mswx pic.twitter.com/RESnB2fpFc
— NWS New Orleans (@NWSNewOrleans) July 12, 2019
Conditions will only continue to worsen.
Hurricane force winds offshore
Buoy data and observations from oil rigs indicate show that hurricane force winds are occurring offshore.
Coastal flooding and surge reported
The road to Grand Isle, LA is about to be cutoff #lawx #barry @MyRadarWX pic.twitter.com/bcYkWaPEno
— Aaron Jayjack (@aaronjayjack) July 12, 2019
Coastal flooding and surge has also already been observed.
