Hurricane Isaias is intensifying and is expected to make landfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday, threatening parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the western part of the Florida Panhandle. It became the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season after strengthening from a tropical storm late Wednesday night.
Isaias is now a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. A hurricane warning is in effect for the northern Gulf Coast, from the Mississippi-Alabama state line, across southern Alabama, to Panama City, Florida.
“Extremely high seas, heavy rains, and damaging winds that accompany tropical storms and hurricanes present serious dangers to the public,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.
Maps show hurricane’s path
The core of Isaias, pronounced “ees-ah-EE-ahs,” was located about 325 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, moving northeast at 12 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest update Thursday evening. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 15 miles from the storm’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 125 miles.
“Additional strengthening is expected through early Friday, and Isaias should remain a dangerous hurricane as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast on Friday night,” the hurricane center said. “Preparations to protect life and property from storm surge and damaging winds along the warning area of the Gulf Coast should be rushed to completion.”
Along with the hurricane warning, a tropical storm warning was issued from the southeast corner of Louisiana to Biloxi, Mississippi, as well as the area around Apalachicola, Florida. A storm surge warning was issued from the mouth of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana, across the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, into the Florida Panhandle.
CBS News 
The hurricane center forecasts 3 to 7 inches of rain and as much as 15 inches in some places along the coast from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Much of the Southeast, and as far north as the Tennessee Valley and the Carolinas, could see heavy rainfall.
Tornadoes are also a potential threat Friday night into Saturday in coastal parts of Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.
CBS News 
“There’s a great chance that this will spin off tornadoes,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a Thursday news conference, noting how twisters can occur far from the center of the storm. “Please be on the lookout. Even if you’re way outside the cone, you could still have tornado risks.”
Evacuations underway
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Florida’s Okaloosa and Walton counties, which took effect at noon Thursday.
Voluntary evacuations were in place for coastal spots in southeastern Alabama, with officials in the city of Gulf Shores urging non-residents to leave the area to “help reduce congestion, support emergency operations, and ensure the safety of those who may be most vulnerable during the storm.”
Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier told CBS News that his biggest concern for the coastal Alabama community was 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.”
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for more than two dozen counties in Florida, and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency for 40 counties. 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.
