Hurricane or Tropical Storm? Doesn’t matter. Isaias poses a significant flood risk for the eastern U.S.
I often get frustrated while monitoring social media messaging for events like Tropical Storm Isaias. This frustration is probably derived from the wide range of people that I follow on social media such as degreed meteorologists, weather enthusiasts, professors, journalists, and so forth. People view these storms from different lenses of interest. As we have watched Isaias creep along the Florida coast, there has been constant chatter about whether its status: tropical storm or hurricane. That chatter continues Monday morning. In this particularly case, it really doesn’t matter. If you live along the eastern coast of the United States (and inland), you should be more focused on potential impacts of Isaias not its category. My dad lives in the Spacecoast region of Florida. When storms approach, he often calls me for information since I am a meteorologist and director of the University of Georgia Atmospheric Sciences program. This one was no different. When he called Friday, I told him to expect minimal impacts from Isaias irrespective of whether it was a hurricane or a tropical storm. Hurricane Isaias struggled with wind shear as it moved through the Bahamas, and its circulation became decoupled. The National Hurricane Center “downgraded” the storm because of the “weakening” trend at that time.
