Important Takeaways:

• Hurricane Warning in effect as AccuWeather warns Idalia will undergo explosive strengthening ahead of Florida landfall
• AccuWeather hurricane experts say the storm will rapidly intensify into a powerful major hurricane over the eastern Gulf of Mexico before making landfall in the state’s Big Bend area of the coast.
• An ‘extreme’ risk for impacts is now in place for a portion of the Sunshine State, centered around the region bridging the Gulf coasts of the panhandle and peninsula. This area will be most at risk for life-threatening storm surge flooding, damaging winds and torrential rain as Hurricane Idalia approaches on Wednesday morning.
• Officials issued mandatory evacuation orders on Monday for parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in Florida due to life-threatening conditions anticipated
• Given the risk for rapid intensification, an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 155 mph is possible near landfall near the panhandle and Big Bend of Florida. AccuWeather hurricane experts are forecasting Idalia to come ashore as a major hurricane, with Category 3 level winds (111 to 129 mph) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
• It’s not out of the question that some portions of Tampa Bay could have a storm surge of 7 or 8 feet, according to AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski. The greatest storm surge, perhaps as high as 10-15 feet, is expected near and just to the southeast of Idalia’s landfall.
• Where the most intense rainfall occurs, rainfall totals can approach an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 18 inches, which would lead to major, life-threatening flooding, since most of the rain will fall over the span of 12 hours or less.
• “Tornadoes can also occur to the east of the center of the circulation as it moves across Florida”

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