Isaias is now a ‘major’ hurricane and is expected to bring significant rain to the Philly area
Some places could see rain rates of 1 to 2 inches an hour on Sunday.
After making history as the latest-forming first Atlantic hurricane of the season , Isaias is now a “major” storm destined to have impacts from the Florida Panhandle to the Northeast corridor throughout the weekend.
By the time its rains reach Philadelphia on Sunday, it likely will have shed most of its tropical identity. Meteorologists were confident the effects around here wouldn’t approach those of the 2020 version of Isaias.
It likely would be a rainstorm with a name, but heavy rain is expected, and urbanized flooding is possible, said Richard Bann, branch forecaster at the federal Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md. He said this would be quite the “moist air mass,” and “embedded thunderstorms” are in play, which could could kick up wind gusts.
The core of Isaias’ remnants may pass near Philly.
The National Weather Service in Mount Holly warned that “isolated” downpours of 1 to 2 inches were possible, with an outside chance of a tornado, more likely south of the city.
In any event or nonevent, expect a “really rainy day on Sunday,” Bann said.
When will the rains arrive in Philadelphia?
After what should be a postcard October Saturday with sun and highs in the 70s, the rains are likely to begin by mid- to late morning, said Alex Staarmann, a weather service meteorologist.
It is expected to continue heavily into the evening, after which showers could linger into Monday morning.
The highest probability of severe weather would be in Delaware and southern New Jersey, Staarmann said, and that likely would be during the night.
Isaias’ tropical moisture remains would be drawn northward by another weather system. Just how much of the rain would be the result of the remnant hurricane would be difficult to distill.
As Paul Walker, retired meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc., has observed, the raindrops, too, have letters on them.
About Hurricane Isaias
At 11 a.m. Friday, Isaias was in the Gulf within 200 miles of Pensacola and due to make landfall in the evening. Its top winds were measured at 120 mph, making it a category 3 hurricane.
It is forecast to generate a destructive storm surge and profoundly heavy, flooding rains in the Southeast.
The encounter with land would knock most of the wind out of it, and it would become a tropical depression Sunday morning as the remnant center approached Kentucky.
The center of the leftovers then are due to arc toward the Philly region.
Meteorologists warned that the forecast may become a moving target: Strange things are prone to happen when tropical moisture interacts with systems in northern latitudes and with the terrain of the Appalachian Mountains.
About Isaias the First and Philly
If the name “Isaias” rings a familiar bell or two, it’s because its maiden visit to the region was in August 2020.It was not a pleasant encounter.
Isaias in 2020 never became stronger than a category 1 hurricane, but it resulted in widespread flooding and knocked out power to 600,000 utility customers in the Philly region.
It spawned two tornadoes and soaked the region with several inches of rain.
Why is Isaias back again?
Hurricane names get recycled every six years, save for the ones attached to the most-devastating storms, such as Katrina, in 2005.
It happened that 2020 was a remarkably busy season when the hurricane names exhausted the alphabet, and Isaias was just another name.
This is developing story. Check back for updates.
