Replace for 3 pm ET: NASA will present reside views of Hurricane Ian from orbit utilizing cameras on the Worldwide Area Station at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).
Hurricane Ian has grown above the nice and cozy waters of the Gulf of Mexico into an especially harmful Class 4 storm after swamping Cuba with 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain and reducing off energy everywhere in the island earlier this week.
The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season began late however is now serving disagreeable surprises. After Hurricane Fiona, which brought on floods and widespread energy blackouts in components of the Caribbean and Canada final week, Hurricane Ian has now emerged as a serious menace.
Churning above the Gulf of Mexico because it approaches the coast of Florida upfront of a forecast landfall on Wednesday (Sept. 28), Ian has grown into an “extraordinarily harmful” Class 4 hurricane, packing sustained wind speeds of 155 mph (250 kph).
Associated: See Hurricane Ian churn in video from Worldwide Area Station
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(Picture credit score: NOAA)
NOAA’s GOES 16 satellite tv for pc intently displays monstrous hurricane Ian nearing Florida. (Picture credit score: NOAA)
“Catastrophic storm surge together with damaging waves from #Ian are anticipated alongside the southwest Florida shoreline from Englewood to Bonita Seashore, together with Charlotte Harbor. Residents ought to urgently comply with evacuation orders from native officers,” the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Nationwide Hurricane Heart tweeted (opens in new tab) at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) on Wednesday (Sept. 28).
The hurricane is a nightmare in accordance with forecasters, because it strikes slowly whereas discharging torrential rains and devastating winds. In accordance with the Nationwide Hurricane Heart (opens in new tab), Ian will set off a sea surge of as much as 16 ft (5 meters) above regular tide ranges alongside the southwestern coast of Florida after it makes landfall close to Tampa in a while Wednesday.
“Tropical-Storm-Pressure winds already starting to have an effect on coast. Situations will quickly deteriorate & catastrophic wind harm is predicted,” NOAA’s Nationwide Hurricane Heart tweeted at 9 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.
NOAA predicts (opens in new tab) the storm will deliver “catastrophic wind harm alongside the southwestern coast of Florida.” Excessive rainfall is predicted everywhere in the Florida peninsula into Thursday with “catastrophic flooding anticipated throughout parts of central Florida” and “appreciable flooding in southern Florida, northern Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal South Carolina,” NOAA mentioned.
The storm compelled NASA to postpone a number of high-profile launches, together with a take a look at flight of the brand new Area Launch System (SLS) moon rocket and a SpaceX crew launch to the Worldwide Area Station.
The Crew-5 launch to the orbital outpost is now anticipated now sooner than Tuesday (Oct. 4), whereas the company nonetheless ponders a brand new date for the milestone SLS flight, which is a serious step in NASA’s plans to deliver people again to the moon as a part of the Artemis program.
The attention of Hurricane Ian approaches the coast of Florida on this video sequence captured by NOAA’s GOES 16 satellite tv for pc. (Picture credit score: NOAA)
Ian emerged over the Caribbean Sea over the previous weekend as a tropical storm and shortly grew right into a hurricane earlier than it reached Cuba on Tuesday (Sept. 27), unleashing heavy rains and sustained winds of 120 mph (192 kph).
The Nationwide Hurricane Heart predicts Ian will weaken shortly after making landfall in Florida with wind speeds falling to Class 1 ranges by Thursday (Sept. 29) morning. The rain Ian brings, will, nonetheless, proceed swamping the southern components of the East Coast as Ian carves its path to the north. The weakened however nonetheless noticeable storm is predicted to succeed in Washington, D.C., in the course of subsequent week.
NASA is monitoring Hurricane Ian from the Worldwide Area Station. On Wednesday, the house company will present reside views of the storm at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) as seen from the orbiting laboratory.
Observe Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.
