textproduct: Jackson

KEY MESSAGES

- Hurricane Isaias will make landfall this evening along the western Florida Panhandle.

- Gusty winds will begin to impact Southeast Mississippi through early this evening, spreading across the remainder of the area overnight into Saturday morning. Gusts will be strong enough to result in scattered downed trees and power outages, especially across East Mississippi.

- Flash flooding is possible overnight into Saturday across East and Northeast Mississippi.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 247 PM CDT Fri Oct 9 2026

Hurricane Isaias continues to approach the northern Gulf Coast this afternoon, with landfall expected over the western Florida Panhandle this evening. Across our area, the westernmost extent of outer rain bands are gradually increasing into southeast and east Mississippi, and conditions are becoming more breezy. Heading into tonight, gusts will continue to increase across the Pine Belt. Confidence in sustained tropical storm force wind is low, but there will be an increasing chance for wind gusts to tropical storm force after sunset. As Isaias moves northward overnight and begins to transition to an extratropical system, an area of stronger wind is expected to develop to the west of the center. Individual CAM solutions have indicated gusts upward into the 60-70 mph range in pockets, with specific areas impacted shifting somewhat from run to run. While some of these individual solutions may be a bit overbaked, CAM ensembles do lend credence to the likelihood of stronger gusts beginning overnight across east MS and expanding to areas as far west as the MS River during the morning Saturday. 12Z REFS probabilities for 50+ mph wind gusts are as high as 70-80 percent in the Golden Triangle area by mid- morning Saturday, with 30+ percent probabilities in the Meridian area as early as 3am, shifting up to the MS 25 corridor through midday. The existing Tropical Storm Watch was upgraded to a Tropical Storm Warning, with Choctaw and Webster counties added to a warning as well. There is some potential for a second maximum corridor across the eastern Delta or I-55 corridor, though there is less confidence in the most extreme version of this scenario presented by the 12z HRRR. Regardless of the peak wind gusts, winds will be consistently gusty across most of the area during the daytime Saturday. A Wind Advisory has been posted for most areas not under a Tropical Storm Warning, except for our AR counties and our westernmost LA parishes. Downed trees and power lines are likely, especially in the east and northeast MS where the highest gusts are anticipated over the longest duration, so scattered power outages are a near certainty.

Rain, on the other hand, will not be as plentiful across our area. REFS PMM from this morning still shows a swath of 1-3" across the Golden Triangle. A Flood Watch remains in effect for this area, given the worst case potential for up to 4-5" in a short period of time. But as you go farther south and west, totals drop off substantially. It is a near certainty that some of our southeast AR, northeast LA, and southwest MS will receive no rain. Rain will taper off across the entire area by evening. Clouds are expected to provide enough temp relief to avoid major fire danger issues in the dry areas tomorrow, but by Sunday and Monday, RHs below 30 percent will become a reality again, especially for our areas along and west of the MS River. Fortunately winds will be lighter, but we'll still have to monitor fire danger potential heading into next week.

Notably, in the areas that do receive rain through much of the day Saturday, temperatures will struggle to reach 70.

Dry weather is expected through much of next week, but showers will be possible again around Friday ahead of a cold front. After some heat relief tomorrow, for most of next week temperatures will run well above normal to near record at some sites. However, with dewpoints primarily in the 60s, these conditions will feel mostly tolerable, and mornings will still be slightly cool to comfortable. /DL/

AVIATION

(00Z TAFS) Issued at 657 PM CDT Fri Oct 9 2026

There is a high chance for aviation impacts over the next 24 hours from Hurricane Isaias. Given the storm is east of us, rain, low stratus/low visibility will be confined to eastern portions of the area, with lowest visibility due to heavy rain at GTR. Wind impacts are likely areawide, with gusts up to 40kt in spots. The winds will also result in strong low level windshear throughout the event. Winds will begin to relax tomorrow afternoon, but may still be gusty heading into tomorrow evening. /SAS/

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Jackson 62 73 59 89 / 70 80 10 0 Meridian 59 70 58 86 / 100 80 10 0 Vicksburg 63 79 59 92 / 30 40 0 0 Hattiesburg 61 78 58 90 / 90 10 0 0 Natchez 64 83 61 91 / 10 20 0 0 Greenville 63 74 59 90 / 30 60 10 0 Greenwood 60 70 58 88 / 60 90 20 0

JAN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

MS...Wind Advisory from 1 AM to 7 PM CDT Saturday for MSZ018-019- 025>028-034>036-040>043-047>049-053>055-059>063.

Flood Watch through Saturday evening for MSZ026>033-037>039-046- 052-058.

Tropical Storm Warning for MSZ029>033-038-039-045-046-051-052- 057-058-066-074.

Tropical Storm Watch for MSZ030-031-033-038-039-045-046-051-052- 057-058-066-074.

Wind Advisory until 7 PM CDT Saturday for MSZ037-044-050-056-064- 065-072-073.

LA...Wind Advisory from 1 AM to 7 PM CDT Saturday for LAZ009-016-025- 026.

AR...None.