Hurricane Isaias continued its trek toward the U.S. Gulf Coast early Thursday, with a landfall expected late Friday as a dangerous hurricane, driving life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds and flooding rain.
Isaias is the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, and forecast to be the first to strike the United States since Hurricane Milton in 2024.
Isaias became a hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, less than 20 hours after becoming a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center announced at 11:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The hurricane center said Thursday morning that it continued to intensify.
As of 5 a.m. ET, the center of Isaias was 420 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and moving
to the east-northeast at 9 mph. Its maximum sustained winds were 80 mph, making it a Category 1 storm.
The hurricane center warned Isaias is likely to continue a period of rapid strengthening before reaching the coast somewhere between Pascagoula, Mississippi, and Panama City Beach, Florida, on Friday evening.
Isaias could have winds of over 100 mph as it approaches the U.S. coast, then dramatically weaken, the hurricane center said. It's forecast to peak before making landfall.
"Regardless, Isaias is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane through landfall, and gusty winds are expected well inland after landfall..." the hurricane center said in a forecast discussion Thursday morning.
Hurricane warnings, meaning hurricane conditions are expected, are in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County Line in Florida. Watches and warnings for storm surge, flooding and high winds are in effect more than 400 miles along the coast between Southeastern Louisiana and the Florida coast south of Tallahassee.
Weather service: Prepare now
06:48 AM ET, October 8 2026, Doyle RiceThe National Weather Service says the time to prepare for the storm is now: "It is looking more likely that Isaias will be a SIGNIFICANT hurricane when it reaches the coastline late this week," the weather service forecast office in Mobile, Alabama, said in an online forecast discussion on Wednesday.
"Now is the time to prepare. Ensure your preparedness kit is well stocked, fill up or charge your vehicles, and check on your neighbors."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Isaias strengthens, takes aim at Gulf Coast states: Live updates
