Will Ida Affect Central Virginia?

Ida has weakened from a category 1 hurricane to a minimal tropical storm over eastern Nicaragua, and is producing flooding rainfall with the potential for dangerous mudslides. Ida will move northward tonight into eastern Honduras and will probably weaken to a tropical depression by Friday morning. There is the potential for Ida to emerge into the western Caribbean on Saturday and to once again become a tropical storm. Extended forecast models indicate a continued motion to the north over the next several days, bringing the remnants of Ida into the Gulf of Mexico early next week. The moisture might then be pulled into a storm system moving across the central U.S. and into Virginia. Our chance of rain next Tuesday night would be from a combination of lift from the upper-level system and moisture from Ida, a system that is currently all the way down in Nicaragua.

Hurricane Ida Inland Over Nicaragua

Hurricane Ida's center has moved inland over east-central Nicaragua this morning after making landfall near Tasbapauni, Nicaragua. Ida maintains maximum sustained wind speeds of 75 mph, which keeps the storm at Category One status for now. Ida should weaken, though, to a Tropical Storm later today while it interacts with the land in Nicaragua and Honduras. If Ida can survive this landmass interaction the next couple of days, it should restrengthen to a Tropical Storm in the western Caribbean on its way into the Gulf of Mexico.

However, there is still great uncertainty with regards to any possible impacts in the United States from Ida.

Hurricane Ida: Third Of Atlantic Season

Ida strengthened early Thursday just offshore of Nicaragua to a hurricane, becoming only the third hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Ida is the ninth named storm of the season. Early this morning, maximum sustained winds are at 75 mph, and Category One Hurricane Ida is expected to move inland over eastern Nicaragua today, weakening to a Tropical Storm while it dumps up to two feet of rain. In fact, it's not the wind that is the biggest threat from Ida, it's the heavy rain, which can produce mudslides and flash floods. The remnants of Ida are expected to pass offshore again Sunday just southeast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and there is a possibility that conditions may favor redevelopment of Ida into a Tropical Storm as it continues to track toward the Gulf of Mexico. But at this time, the threat to the United States from Ida appears low.