Louisiana declares state of emergency as Ida heads north

TAMPA - A faster-moving Hurricane Ida could be bound for a hit on the north Gulf coast with hurricane force winds, an updated forecast for the storm says.

A hurricane watch has been issued for the Mississippi coast and part of eastern Louisiana, meaning hurricane force winds are possible in 36 hours.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency as his state braced for the arrival of Ida.

The storm picked up speed this morning and is expected to reach land early Tuesday morning. It may not have the structure of a tropical cyclone by then, but forecasters still expect its winds to be at hurricane strength, if just barely.

After reaching land, a weakening Ida is expected to curve east and travel across the Panhandle, emerging into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning with its winds dropping below tropical storm strength.

The current track will take Ida north of the Tampa Bay area but the region is within the possible error in the forecast track.

That is a major shift from earlier National Hurricane Center forecasts that had Ida making a buttonhook turn and staying offshore.

Hurricane Ida muscled up to a Category 2 storm, though forecasters believe that is where the storm will peak before heading into the Gulf.

Along the way, the weaker left side of the storm could nip Cancun and winds on the slightly stronger right side could brush western Cuba.

The hurricane center's forecast calls for Ida to maintain hurricane strength into Tuesday as it reaches the northern Gulf coast. After that, it's is supposed to weaken quickly to tropical storm strength.

Ida has continued to exceed forecaster's expectations. At one point, there was a question whether the storm would survive crossing Nicaragua and Honduras.

This morning, hurricane warnings are up for the Yucatan peninsula from Playa Del Carmen to Cabo Catochee, meaning hurricane winds are expected in the next 24 hours. Watches and tropical storm warnings extend over much of the peninsula.

Sunday evening, Ida was located 445 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving northwest near 12 mph.

The hurricane center said the western edge of the Yucatan has a 90 percent to 100 percent chance of tropical storm winds.

At this point, the Tampa Bay area has a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of seeing tropical storm winds during the next five days.

The Tampa Bay area will see plenty of wind through the week, not so much from Ida but from an area of high pressure over the Southeast that will interact with Ida.

The National Weather Service in Ruskin issued a lake wind advisory for West Central Florida until 6 p.m. today, warning that winds over open water could hit 25 mph with gusts more than 30 mph by late in the morning.

That's strong enough to flip small boats on large lakes, the weather service says.

Regardless of Ida's strength or form, there's a chance some of its rain may reach western parts of the Tampa Bay area later in the week, the weather service says.

Forecast models are far from sure what Ida's impact, if any, will be later in the week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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