Preparations are underway in the South Sumter area for the arrival of Tropical Storm Isaac along the Northern Gulf Coast.  The current NHC forecast calls for landfall to be in the area of New Orleans late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.  The forecast calls for the storm to come on shore as a category one or possible a category two storm.  The problem with this storm is the size and reach of the eastern portion of the storm.  The effects of the storm could be felt as far as 500 miles from the center of circulation on the eastern side of the storm.  Thankfully, the winds have no been severe and hopefully that trend will continue in the outer rings.  However, heavy rain and the potential for small tornadoes will be a threat to the area if the storm continues on its current forecasted track.  See the official forecast track below along with the forecasted wind fields and the expected reach. 

Remember that there are still models out there that don’t agree with the official track.  The model shown below is the HRW model and it indicates that it expects the storm to be hitting the Mississippi and Alabama Coast in 43 hours.  The models still have quite aspread on them, and we will simply have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.