Hurricane Isaias Alert

National Hurricane Center

At 1100 AM, the center of Hurricane Isaias was located by an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft and Bahamas radar near latitude 24.7 North, longitude 77.9 West. Isaias is moving toward the northwest near 12 mph (19 km/h). A general northwestward motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected for the next day

or so, followed by a north-northwestward motion by late Sunday. On the forecast track, the center of Isaias will move over northern Andros Island during the next few hours and move near or over Grand Bahama Island in the Northwestern Bahamas later

today. Isaias is forecast to move near the east coast of the Florida peninsula tonight through Sunday.

Reports from the reconnaissance aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have

decreased slightly to near 80 mph (130 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is expected through Sunday, and Isaias is forecast to remain a hurricane during this time. Slow weakening is expected to begin by late Monday.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles (185 km). Reports from a U.S. Navy site on Andros Island indicate that sustained winds of 45 mph (76 km/h) and a gust to 69 mph (111 km/h) occurred about 3 hours ago. More recently, a sustained wind of 35 mph (56 km/h) and a gust to 48 mph (77 km/h) were measured at Nassau, Bahamas.