Hurricane chaser living in Bay St. Louis has message for Coast: Take Sally seriously

One of the world’s top storm chasers is living in Bay St. Louis for the 2020 hurricane season and is preparing for Tropical Storm Sally.

Josh Morgerman, known as iCyclone to his social media followers, recently traveled through Louisiana at night to penetrate Hurricane Laura’s eye wall as the storm passed through the city of Sulphur on Aug. 27.

But Morgerman may not have to pack up his gear, gas up and leave the Coast for Sally, which is expected to be a Category 2 hurricane at landfall. The storm is expected to dump up to 2 feet of rain in some areas along with life-threatening storm surge.

Where will Morgerman go to document Sally?

He is “staying put” for now, he told the Sun Herald on Sunday. The Mississippi Gulf Coast is projected to be on the “dirty side” of Sally.

The storm chaser said he is still uncertain about Sally’s track, but he also had a message for South Mississippi residents: take Sally seriously.

He doesn’t want Mississippi residents to be influenced by what happened to Tropical Storm Marco, which dissipated as it made landfall.

“One cyclone might vaporize. One might grow fangs and attack. That is the crazy thing about these things — we never know,” he said.

Morgerman said Coastians in the hurricane warning zone should make arrangements to evacuate if necessary and prepare for impact and heed all warnings from county officials.

Mississippi is “in play,” he said.

This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 9:30 PM.