The arrival of Hurricane Delta is imminent, landfall will be Friday evening in southwest Louisiana and through the rest of the day conditions will be deteriorating as the storm moves in from the Gulf of Mexico.
Strengthening of the storm has leveled off and Friday morning it sits as a strong Category 3 storm, this will more than likely be the peak for Delta as it is beginning to encounter some shear which will prevent further strengthening.
Landfall remains in southwest Louisiana Friday evening, with the worst weather hitting Acadiana in the evening just after sunset and continuing into the early morning hours of Saturday before clearing up.
The forecast has changed remarkably little over the last couple of days so there's no major surprises with the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center with regards to both track and impacts.
Acadiana's impacts haven't changed much over the last 24 hours with wind and surge remaining the two major threats to the region, although as is always the case flash flooding will also be present.
There's a brief window Friday morning for last minute preparations but anything that is left needs to be rushed to completion as weather is now set to deteriorate through the rest of the day with the earliest outer bands already arriving.
It's worth taking a look at the current structure of Delta to get a sense of where the impacts will be the worst, with the presence of that shear it has left the storm a little lopsided and it appears that the worst impacts will be just to the north and the west of the center.
This means that western parts of Acadiana will see some of the worst winds, wind gusts will be around 80-100 mph particularly for the western part of Vermilion Parish and into both Jeff Davis and Acadia Parishes.
It does not mean though that eastern parts of the region will be without impacts as all of Acadiana will be feeling the affects of this storm.
The onset of tropical winds will be arriving on the coast within the next few hours and hurricane force winds will be picking up down the coastline by the middle of the afternoon, and the strongest winds getting into Acadiana during the evening hours.
Winds on average will be sustained on average around 40-60 mph with gusts possible of up to 80-100 mph, those types of wind gusts could cause significant damage and those in mobile home should ride out the storm in a more permanent structure.
The surge remains the other major issue with this system especially along the Vermilion Bay and west toward Rockerfeller Wildlife refuge where the surge will be up around 7-11 feet, inundation will push up to Highway 14 and Highway 90.
Water in these areas could take several days to go down so areas along the coast may not be easily accessible for several days after landfall, especially if winds remain steady from the south.
On top of the surge will be some significant waves and piles of debris in Cameron Parish left over from Laura which will bring additional damage to what the surge will have already caused as the seas come up.
Rain totals across Acadiana will be in the 4-8" range with hot spots of about a foot which could cause some flash flooding in low lying areas and could cause roads to struggle to drain.
As we go through the day weather will deteriorate but we will stick with you through the whole day, and remember if you lose power you'll be able to find our live stream on mobile devices.
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