Hurricane Isaias becomes Category 3 storm as it threatens northern Gulf Coast. See maps, forecast path.

Hurricane Isaias, the first of the 2026 Atlantic season, strengthened to a Category 3 storm early Friday and is expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast this evening, threatening parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the western part of the Florida Panhandle.

“Preparations should be rushed to completion as the weather will go downhill quickly today,” the National Hurricane Center said.

Maps show hurricane’s path

Isaias has maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour as of early Friday evening, making it a major hurricane, according to forecasters, who said the storm underwent “rapid intensification.” Life-threatening storm surge and devastating winds are likely along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coasts.

The hurricane center warned that Isaias is “expected to be at or near major hurricane strength” when it makes landfall along the coast of the western Florida Panhandle. The center of Isaias is then forecast to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday. 

The core of Isaias, pronounced “ees-ah-EE-ahs,” was about 125 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama, rushing north at 17 mph on Friday, according to the hurricane center. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 35 miles from the storm’s center, and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 205 miles.

After landfall, Isaias is expected to weaken and will most likely become a post-tropical storm on Saturday, forecasters said.

Tropical storm conditions had hit the northern Gulf Coast, the center said. A wind gust of 47 mph was reported at Dauphin Island in Alabama. 

Watches and warnings in effect

A hurricane warning is in effect for the coast from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County Line in Florida. Landfall is expected within the warning area, forecasters said. 

The hurricane center on Friday evening said that conditions were “deteriorating quickly” within areas covered by the warning. 

A tropical storm warning was also issued for the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish Line in Louisiana to west of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and east of the Bay/Gulf County Line to the Aucilla River in Florida. A storm surge warning was up for the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River and a storm surge watch was in effect for the Suwannee River to Yankeetown, Florida.

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded, forecasters warned, with heights of up to 9 feet from the Alabama-Florida border to Grayton Beach, Florida. Other parts of the Florida Panhandle could see storm surge up to 6 feet.

Hurricane-force winds are expected to spread inland as far as 100 miles from the coast into southern Alabama, forecasters warned.

The hurricane center said “dangerous and damaging hurricane force-winds” were expected across the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, where residents were advised to have a safe room to ride out the storm and prepare for the possibility of long-term power outages.

Other areas of the Southeast that were also expected to see “damaging wind gusts” included northern Georgia, the southern Appalachians and southern Middle Tennessee, forecasters said. 

The hurricane center forecasts 4 to 8 inches of rain and as much as 15 inches in some places along the coast, from southern Alabama to the Florida Panhandle, Florida’s Big Bend and southwest Georgia. 

Two to 5 inches of rain are expected across much of the rest of the Southeast, with up to 10 inches possible, especially across the Southern Appalachians and coastal Carolinas.

There is also risk of tornadoes spinning off from the storm beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Saturday, forecasters warned. The tornado threat on Saturday will extend to areas of Georgia and the Carolinas. 

Evacuations underway

Evacuations have been ordered in parts of Florida’s Okaloosa and Walton counties, which are both in the Panhandle. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has told tourists and visitors in the state’s coastal areas to leave immediately.

Ivey’s evacuation order “requires all non-residents, tourists and visitors in Baldwin County south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and on Dauphin Island in Mobile County, to evacuate immediately,” a news release says.

There are three shelters opening Friday morning at schools in Mobile County, Alabama. At least four churches in Dothan, Alabama, are being offered as shelters Friday, and they’re even providing snacks and drinks.

Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier told CBS News that his biggest concern for the coastal Alabama community is whether its residents and visitors would heed official warnings. 

“Because what inevitably happens is people hear the warnings, but they don’t actually take any action until it’s much too late,” Collier said. “And oftentimes if it’s really bad, first responders can’t get out to people until things calm down a bit.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned at a Friday news conference of significant storm surge and likely wind damage that could put “a lot of people’s lives in jeopardy if they haven’t heeded evacuation orders.” He said storm surge “does the most significant damage from these storms.”

“Everywhere from Pensacola all the way into the Big Bend section of north Florida, you could see storm surge. So please take caution of that,” he said, adding: “And we always say you hide from the wind, but you run from the water. When the water’s rising and things are happening, it’s a very, very difficult conundrum — and you do not want to be caught in that.”

Kelly Benzon, visiting the Panhandle from Illinois, said he was evacuating.

“I don’t want to be trying to get out of here in the pouring down rain and wind so we’re gonna be smart and we’re gonna move,” he said.

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for more than two dozen counties in Florida, and Ivey issued a state of emergency for 40 counties in Alabama. Government buildings will close in nine Alabama counties on Friday, Ivey announced. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also declared a state of emergency.

The U.S. Coast Guard also said it was preparing for Friday’s landfall and urged seafarers near the Gulf to stay informed and remain vigilant leading up to the hurricane’s approach. 

The latest for a first hurricane since 1905

Isaias’ progression into a hurricane on Wednesday marked the latest date in 121 years for the Atlantic season’s first hurricane to develop, just missing a record set on Oct. 8, 1905, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. 

The season, which has been unusually quiet in the Atlantic this year, runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.  

An Atlantic hurricane season typically produces, on average, 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, according to the hurricane center, which used climate data collected between 1991 and 2020 to calculate those figures. A season’s first named storm normally forms in mid- to late June, while the first hurricane tends to form in early to mid-August, and the first major hurricane often comes in late August or early September.

Forecasters predicted there would be less Atlantic storm activity than usual this year, but so far it has been even quieter than anticipated. Meteorologists say that’s largely due to the onset of a strong El Niño over the summer, which typically correlates with cooler water temperatures and greater fluctuations in wind patterns over the Atlantic, conditions that dampen the growth of tropical systems. The Pacific, meanwhile, has seen an unusually active series of hurricanes.