Isaias strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday night as the Gulf Coast braces for a potential landfall late Friday or early Saturday.
Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft confirmed that Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as of 10:30 p.m. CDT, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Isaias formed Wednesday morning off Mexico's coast and is expected to continue strengthening as it moves north toward the U.S. coastline. The National Hurricane Center forecasts that Isaias will make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane.
Areas from eastern Louisiana to Florida's Panhandle should closely monitor Isaias, forecasters said.
"The risk of damaging hurricane force-winds is increasing over portions of the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama, and Mississippi," the National Hurricane Center said. "Residents in these areas should prepare for the possibility of long-duration power outages."
Forecasters expect Isaias to develop a large wind field as it approaches the coast, extending potential impacts well beyond the point of landfall.
The storm could also bring heavy rain and gusty winds into the Tennessee and Ohio valleys over the weekend.
It has been nearly two years since a hurricane made a direct U.S. landfall. The last hurricane to strike the United States was Hurricane Milton in 2024, when it came ashore along the Florida coast as a Category 3 storm. Milton was the ninth-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
Last year marked the first hurricane season in a decade without a U.S. hurricane landfall.
Isaias is the ninth named storm of the Atlantic season and the first to reach hurricane strength. The Atlantic is on pace for its quietest season since 2013, when only two hurricanes formed.
The peak of the Atlantic hurricane season passed nearly a month ago.
