8/29 – Rob Knight’s Sunday Morning 10 AM Hurricane Ida Update
Ida’s rapid strengthening appears to have leveled off within the past hour or so. NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft that have been in the storm this morning have reported peak flight-level winds of 146 to 148 kt between 8000 and 10000 ft. Within the past hour or so, there is evidence in radar imagery of a secondary eyewall, and this has likely caused Ida’s intensity to level off for now. Although Ida’s extreme winds are confined to the inner eyewall, the aircraft data indicate that hurricane-force winds extend outward about 45 n mi to the northeast of the center, and based on buoy data the tropical-storm-force wind field extends outward about 130 n mi northeast of the center.
Ida’s eyewall is nearing the coast of Louisiana, and any additional strengthening seems less likely now given the recent structural changes of the inner core. While rapid weakening should occur after landfall, damaging winds will penetrate well inland across southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi through tonight. Ida is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression over Mississippi by late Tuesday.
