Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico and could strengthen into a hurricane by Thursday, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue watches for a stretch of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida ahead of an expected Friday landfall.

Between Friday and the weekend, 7.5 to 15 centimeters of rain are expected on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, from southeastern Louisiana to northwestern Florida. Photo: Getty images.

Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the Gulf of Mexico and could strengthen into a hurricane by Thursday, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue watches for a stretch of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida ahead of an expected Friday landfall.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest bulletin that the storm’s center was about 420 kilometers (260 miles) west of Progreso, on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and about 870 kilometers (540 miles) southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

In addition to the hurricane watch for the coasts of Mississippi and Florida, the NHC issued a storm surge watch from the mouth of the Mississippi River eastward to Yankeetown, Florida. It also declared a tropical storm watch from Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana to west of Bay St. Louis, and from east of Indian Pass to the Aucilla River in Florida.

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According to the weather report, the storm was moving east-northeast at about 13 kilometers per hour (8 mph), with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40 mph) and higher gusts. Isaias is expected to drop between 5 and 10 centimeters of rain through Thursday over coastal areas of the Bay of Campeche, with isolated higher totals.

Between Friday and the weekend, rainfall of 7.5 to 15 centimeters is expected along the U.S. northern Gulf Coast, from southeastern Louisiana to northwestern Florida, with localized amounts of up to 25 centimeters.

If you live in portions of the northern Gulf coast highlighted here, winds are forecast to be high enough to make further preparations for Isaias impossible by Friday. Do you have an evacuation plan? Is your home ready?

Prepare now. https://t.co/SqrQiDnUzK pic.twitter.com/SPNA0Fuz7g

— National Weather Service (@NWS) October 8, 2026

Florida Declares Emergency

The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that a hurricane watch now covers coastal areas of Mississippi and Florida, where Isaias is most likely to come ashore on Friday. The exact location of landfall remains uncertain, but the zone under alert stretches across a densely populated stretch of the northern Gulf.

Following this, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in 25 counties along the state’s northwestern coast, a measure that allows supplies and emergency personnel to be mobilized before the storm’s arrival.

DeSantis urged residents to prepare emergency plans, review their supplies and follow updates from official sources. Local officials have echoed that call as communities from the Panhandle to the Mississippi coast begin stocking sandbags and securing vulnerable infrastructure.

Isaias is the ninth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, following Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo and Hanna. The season has set a record low: no hurricane has formed so far, which meteorologists attribute to the El Niño phenomenon, characterized by warmer-than-usual waters in the Pacific. This year, El Niño could break historic records.

On August 6, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) lowered its forecast for the Atlantic season to a maximum of 13 storms, below the historical average. For the eastern Pacific, however, it expects up to 22 storms, above average, as El Niño phenomenon strengthens.

Coastal communities from southeastern Louisiana to northwestern Florida remain under watch as the storm approaches.

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