NHC Director Says Isaac Not Growing
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The National Hurricane Center has been tracking Tropical Storm Isaac for days and as of 8 a.m. there is some good news for the area as the director said the chances of the system coming ashore as a hurricane "are going down a little bit."
Dr. Rick Knabb said the storm is still expected to be a high-end tropical storm and possibly be "right-near the threshold of a hurricane as it passes over or near the Keys." Dr. Knabb said the storm hasn't appreciably changed in size and that means storm surge expectations haven't changed dramatically.
Dr. Knabb said more and more intermittent bands will impact South Florida throughout the day and the bands will get stronger as the day goes on.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting a storm surge of 1-3 feet across the Keys and some areas in the Lower Keys could see a local storm surge of 2-4 feet. Dr. Knabb told CBS4 that the NHC has reduced the storm surge to 4-6 feet on the southwest coast of Florida.
Dr. Knabb said the "chances of it (Isaac) being a hurricane are going down a little bit," and that's caused them to bring down the storm surge a little bit across the southwest coast of Florida.
Dr. Knabb said the fact the storm has increased its speed may lessen the rainfall totals a bit, but the system is large enough that there could be multiple bands training over the same area causing localized flooding.
All of South Florida is under a Tornado Watchs until 5 p.m. Saturday. Monroe County is under a Hurricane Warning and Miami-Dade County is under a Hurricane Watch. Broward County remains under a Tropical Storm Warning.
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