Hurricane Watch Net Calls for “All Hands on Deck” on Sunday
08/28/2021
American Radio Relay League

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As Hurricane Ida moves into the Gulf of Mexico drawing a bead on New Orleans, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is ramping up preparations to track the storm during its approach.

“Sunday will be an “all hands on deck” situation for members of the HWN,” HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, said on Friday. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says a hurricane warning is in effect for Intracoastal City, Louisiana (Vermilion Parish), to the Mouth of the Pearl River as well as for Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and Metropolitan New Orleans.

As of 1200 UTC on Saturday, Ida was some 440 south-southeast of New Orleans, with maximum sustained winds of 85 MPH — Category 1 — moving to the northwest at 16 MPH. The NHC says Ida is expected to rapidly intensify as it moves over the southeastern and central Gulf of Mexico through Saturday night. “Ida is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it approaches the northern Gulf coast on Sunday,” the NHC forecast says. Given the abundance of warm water in the Gulf, Ida could become a Category 3 or even a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 120 to 140 MPH with higher gusts, according to some predictions.