Delta Is Set to Weaken Before Louisiana Strike: Hurricane Update
By Brian K. Sullivan, Bloomberg News
Hurricane Delta is poised to lose strength before coming ashore in Louisiana, but is still expected to bring powerful winds and a dangerous storm surge to an area of the U.S. Gulf Coast recovering from Hurricane Laura.
Delta is forecast to make landfall on Friday as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) per hour, much weaker than the ferocious blast Laura unleashed with its winds of 150 mph. But Delta will still bring flooding rains and a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet in some places. Its worst impacts will likely be to the east of where Laura hit in late August.
Delta is adding to the havoc caused by a string of deadly natural disasters in 2020, a year that has been marked by a hyperactive hurricane season, devastating wildfires and a derecho that wreaked havoc across the U.S. Midwest. They’re further evidence that the Earth’s climate is changing, bringing hotter temperatures, stronger storms and more widespread destruction.
There will be some worrisome moments before landfall on Friday, because Delta is forecast to grow into a major Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph as it crosses the energy-producing region of the Gulf of Mexico. That burst of power could start to fade as Delta encounters cooler water in the northern Gulf. About 92% of oil production and 62% of gas output in the Gulf was shut as of Thursday.