Weather Channel Update: Hurricane Ida winds at 105 MPH

The Weather Channel is reporting tonight that Hurricane Ida now has sustained winds at 105 MPH and is expected to remain a solid Category 2 storm at least until tomorrow night. Additionally they confirm that the upper level low pressure system we discussed earlier has come ashore in southeast Texas and Louisiana.

These two storm systems are expected to combine over the next day or two bringing heavy rain to an arc that extends from south-western Louisiana to the northern border of North Carolina through Thursday.

Ida grows stronger in Gulf, 105 mph (Weather Channel)

James Wilson, Lead Meteorologist, The Weather Channel
Nov. 8, 2009 6:59 pm ET

Hurricane Ida is now in the southern Gulf of Mexico as a category 2 hurricane. As of 6 pm CST Sunday top winds were near 105 mph and it was located 445 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Ida is moving toward the north-northwest around 12 mph. An upper level disturbance that has moved into southern Texas is causing the overall flow
around the hurricane to be out of the south. That southerly flow should keep Ida on a northbound course with increasing forward speed through Monday. By Monday evening Ida could be in the northern Gulf of Mexico to the south of Mobile Bay.

Hurricane conditions could be felt along the Gulf Coast from southern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle late Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning. For that reason a Hurricane Watch continues from Grand Isle, Louisiana east to Mexico Beach, Florida.

Ida's strength will be about the same for the next 12 to 24 hours before a weakening trend begins. The weakening later Monday should occur as Ida begins to interact with the upper disturbance over southern Texas and a southward moving cold front over the Mississippi Valley.

Ida's interaction with the systems over the western Gulf and Texas should cause the hurricane to transition to an extratropical system late Monday into Tuesday morning.

Ida heads to the Gulf (Weather Channel Video)
Tropical Update from 2:50 pm EST 11/8/09