Fay makes 4th landfall; Keeps on going

Tropical Storm Fay continues to maintain strength and meander across Florida. Yesterday afternoon Fay entered te Gulf of Mexico and pulled up a little more energy from the warm Gulf waters increasing her sustained windspeed from 45 to 50 mph. This morning she came ashore once again for a record 4th landfall in Florida at such high intensity.

STEINHATCHEE, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fay's path Saturday crossing the Florida Panhandle vaulted the stubborn weather system into the record books.

The tropical storm crossed over the central Florida Panhandle at 5 a.m., the first in recorded history to hit the state with such intensity four different times.

The center of the storm was reported to be over the Florida panhandle about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.

Fay was expected to be near or over the western Florida Panhandle's coast Saturday and near or over the coast of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, the center said

Fay is expected to hug the northern gulf coast along the Florida pan handle toward Mobile Bay throughout the weekend. There is a slight possibility that she may re-emerge into the Gulf and the come ashore one more time in southern Alabama. Technically this would be a 5th landfall but as close as Fay is to the coast, there is no potential for her to gain any strength or to generate any storm surge.

Somewhere around the beginning to middle of the week, Fay should reach western Mississippi or eastern Louisiana and then turn north and east to head towards northern Georgia, northern Alabama and Tennessee. Once again there is hope that we may get a good dose of rain to put a dent in the drought and fill up the lakes.