The National Hurricane Center placed Hurricane Isaias near 23.1N 91.7W at 06:00 UTC Thursday, with 65-knot winds, and forecast landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday.
Hurricane Isaias was a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center said in its Atlantic tropical weather discussion based on the 00:00 UTC surface analysis and satellite imagery through 06:00 UTC. The center was near 23.1 north, 91.7 west, about 160 nautical miles northwest of Progreso, Mexico, moving east-northeast at 8 knots.
The center estimated minimum pressure at 981 millibars and maximum sustained winds at 65 knots, with gusts to 80 knots. Peak seas were near 20 feet. Seas above 13 feet extended about 30 nautical miles in the northern semicircle and 45 nautical miles in the southern semicircle.
The discussion said an east-northeast motion was expected overnight, then a turn toward the northeast and north later Thursday and Friday. On that track, Isaias was expected to pass north of the Yucatan Peninsula later Thursday and make landfall on the US northern Gulf Coast, inside the warning area, late Friday or early Saturday. Further strengthening was expected through early Friday, and the center said Isaias should remain a strong hurricane as it approaches the coast Friday night.
Swells were forecast to reach the western and northern Yucatan later Thursday and spread toward the Gulf Coast late in the week. A later forecast point in the same discussion placed the storm inland and weakening to a tropical storm near 32.5 north, 87.5 west on Saturday morning.
The discussion is a forecast, not a landfall report. It did not list individual evacuation orders. Residents in the warning area were the population the center identified as facing the approach.