News - Weather

Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Ida may head for Gulf

Storm’s path still uncertain

Tropical Storm Ida is moving toward Honduras and could enter the northwestern Caribbean on Saturday and the Gulf of Mexico early next week.

The path of the storm is still uncertain, weather officials said Thursday, but residents along the U.S. coast should monitor Ida’s progression.

“We’re expecting it to get to the southeastern part of the Gulf,” said Tim Erickson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in New Orleans. “But there are so many factors that could affect its development. This late in the year it’s hard to get anything going.”

If Ida survives its trek over Nicaragua and Honduras, parts of the Coast could see some coastal flooding in the later part of the weekend and into next week.

The weather service has issued a coastal flood statement for Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties, as well as several parishes in southeastern Louisiana.

The NWS said these areas could see higher-than-normal tides and coastal flooding as Ida collides with a low pressure system across the northern Gulf.

Still, Erickson said the impact on coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, even Alabama, would be minimal.

“Right now it’s very tough to tell, but we shouldn’t see anything from it,” he said. “It’s a small, tight storm, and the winds don’t extend out very far.”