Update on Hurricane Francine as it nears Louisiana coast

e e hello I'm K1 meteorologist Chris Ramirez we are tracking the latest on Fran scene as we Bears down on the Louisiana coast we are seeing mostly showers here across Southeast Texas not much of any direct impacts for us but we are expecting that storm to continue its track off to the Northeast at around 15 or about 16 M an hour the latest right now as at the 3 p.m. advisory winds are at 90 m an hour moving Northeast at 17 M an hour so as we take a closer look at the storm we are seeing it just about 173 miles away from Galveston and it was pretty close to us as it was just south of the galvaston Houston area but of course it it was is going to make direct impacts to Louisiana as they're already seeing widespread rain showers from New Orleans even along the I 10 coridor so torrential rain ongoing right now and they're now about to start seeing hurricane conditions across Southern Louisiana as you're able to see the ey wall just about to Bear Down on the Louisiana coast we don't have an official landfall as of now but we are expecting this toh continue at least within the next hour or so that we could be looking at a potential landfall across Southern Louisiana there's lots of watches and warnings are currently in effect they're seeing 93 mph winds in that buoy that's just offshore so you're seeing those uh tropical storm force and hurricane Force conditions that are now starting to begin for Southern Louisiana and that's going to continue as the storm continues its track off towards the Northeast so looking at the latest as we look at the latest forecast track this is expected to move Inland quickly by Thursday morning we very well could see winds at 45 miles an hour so they're expecting tropical storm Force conditions in Southern Mississippi as the storm moves just along I55 from New Orleans to Jackson so expecting that to continue at least for the next uh hour or or so as we look at Future Track torrential rain lots of rain expected for the City of New Orleans and even a long I 10 so not really a good idea to head towards Louisiana right now if you are traveling out and about especially towards New Orleans as we look at Future Track we're expecting that to continue the heaviest rain to be out of the picture by 10 p.m. later on this evening but looking at the winds the winds are fairly important at the current moment we are expecting those winds to Gus between 100 miles an hour maybe to 100 m hours plus especially for our extreme Southern areas but once it makes landfall it will of course rapidly weaken and it's going to lose that energy source as it tracks off towards the Northeast one other thing that they're really going to have to keep an eye on is that storm surge potential of course storm surge warnings in effect for all of the Louisiana coast as they could get up to 5 to 10 feet of water inundation along our area coast of course this area is definitely at sea level lots of swamps and marshes in this area so any folks that are in close proximity of the bodies of water in Southern Louisiana might expect some water inundation from Francine as it continues moving across uh the southern half of the state into Southwestern Louisiana so the tropical alerts there's still a hurricane warning in effect for much of Southern Louisiana even the tropical storm warnings in effect in for portions of Southern Mississippi even buuy dealing with those tropical storm conditions as it makes makes its way across uh Louisiana and Southern Mississippi so here's the latest in the tropics we're dealing with lots of disturbances currently in the Atlantic Bas and the ones that are currently right closer to just north of South America has a 30% chance 10% chance just north of South America these really not too concerning but the National Hurricane Center has now uh of course classified tropical depression 7 that it's just off the coast of Africa very well likely that that system is going to just remain over Open Water uh but there's no other systems directly impacting or expected to impact us Texas at least in the next few hours but just keep in mind that we're seeing those indirect impacts for our coastal areas especially here across uh our coastal areas uh there terms of that Coastal flood warning so if you are along galvaston might see some rough Seas one to three feet of storm swords maybe likely for portions of biver to Crystal Beach so there's going to be that Coastal flood warning in effect until 400 p.m. in Wednesday waterers really not all that safe to be in right now as Francine not all that far away from us going into the next few uh hours especially we're going to see conditions improve for us here across our Coastal Waters as Francine makes its way Inland but just to kind of recap what we're seeing right now we're seeing just light showers out of this across the Houston area seeing those Misty conditions overcast Skies but not much of anything in terms of any concerning issues with Francine as it continues its track towards Louisiana but looking at the latest right now as of the 3 p.m. advisory winds are at 90 M an hour still a category 1 hurricane moving Northeast at 17 M an hour it's coming into some contact with some dry air so we don't expect it to strengthen all that much if any at all as it continues its track towards uh the coastal areas and we're just about to see that ey wall start to approach the coastal areas of Louisiana especially in around Huma there like as we head into the next few hours so New Orleans definitely dealing with that widespread heavy rainfall uh that's expected to last at least through the next few hours but uh just to kind of a give you an indication of how close not too far away from galvaston as that storm was once south of us uh there within the past few hours but uh moving Northeast at 17 M hour we might get a landfall within the next maybe hour or two but just widespread torrential rain falling right now as hurricane conditions are now starting to become apparent across Louisiana as the center of that storm is now about to make landfall so something to keep an eye on if you are having any plans to travel towards uh along I 10 towards the east but they already dealing with those heavy Gusty conditions across the area uh as we head into the next few hours as the storm continues its path towards the Northeast so of course we are keeping track and we're giving you latest updates on Francine as it's not really directly impacting us here in Southeast Texas but for folks off towards the east we are expecting those hurricane conditions for our neighbors to the east as Francine continues its track off towards the north so as always you can get the latest updates on khou.com as well as on the khu 11 app and of course I'm meterologist Chris Maris with the K1 weather team