Tropical Storm Sally gains strength in Gulf ahead of U.S. landfall

Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Sally is strengthening as it moves up the Gulf of Mexico and forecasters say it could grow into a hurricane before it makes landfall between western Alabama and eastern Louisiana.

In its 4 a.m. CDT update Monday, the National Hurricane Center said Sally was 120 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 175 miles southeast of Biloxi, Miss. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving northwest at 9 mph.

Sally is expected to make landfall somewhere between southeastern Louisiana and the Mississippi-Alabama border on Tuesday.

"On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move over the north-central Gulf of Mexico today, and approach southeastern Louisiana this afternoon, and make landfall in the hurricane warning area on Tuesday," the NHC said in its advisory. "Afterward, Sally is expected to move slowly north-northeastward near the northern Gulf Coast through Wednesday."

As the system moved from the waters off Florida's southeast across the southern tip of the Sunshine State, officials along the Gulf Coast began taking action to prepare for Sally's arrival. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm's arrival and noted on Twitter that parts of his state were ravaged by Hurricane Laura late last month.

"This when combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, can make us all weary," Edwards said on Twitter. "I implore Louisianans to take their preparations seriously."

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also declared a state of emergence and requested federal assistance.

With heavy rain and the threat of a life-threatening storm surge in the forecast, New Orleans mayor Latoya issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas that are located outside of the city's levee system.

Sally is now the earliest named "S-Storm" to ever form in the Atlantic Ocean basin, beating out 2005's Hurricane Stan which was named on Oct. 2.

In less than 24 hours, Sally went from being a mass of showers and thunderstorms east of the Bahamas on Friday afternoon and to a tropical depression on Friday evening, before becoming a tropical storm on Saturday afternoon.

Torrential rain fell across South Florida as the tropical disturbance passed through. Marathon and Key West, Fla., both set daily and monthly rainfall records on Saturday.

"With very warm water across the northeastern Gulf and relatively light vertical wind shear, Tropical Storm Sally is expected to have enough time to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.

Downpours are expected to spread across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Monday into Wednesday.

The heaviest downpours and highest rainfall accumulations are expected to set up over the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, and may persist for 48 hours in some locations.

Significant, life-threatening flash flooding is possible due to such high rainfall amounts. Roads may become impassable and some communities may become cutoff from first responders and medical services for a time.

Between the potential threats closer to home and many others emerging from the depths of the basin, an unusual occurrence that hasn't happened since September of 1971 may unfold in the coming weeks. As many five named tropical systems may spin across the ocean at the same time by the middle of September.

Tropical storms and hurricanes can form well beyond the statistical peak of hurricane season, which is Sept. 10-11.

Hurricane season does not officially end until the end of November, and named systems could emerge into December this year.

Once the list based on the English alphabet is exhausted, Greek letters will be assigned as names, and that has only happened one other time in history, in 2005.

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