The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch that includes the New Orleans metro area. The watch stretches from Morgan City to the Alabama/Florida border and also includes Lake Ponchartrain and Lake Maurepas.
A storm surge watch is also in effect from Morgan City to the Alabama/Florida border and includes the northern and western shores of Lake Ponchartrain.
A Storm Surge Watch means there is a possibility of life- threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, in the indicated locations during the next 48 hours. A Hurricane Watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area.
Tropical Storm Nate is expected to emerge into the Gulf overnight Friday and should move quickly towards Louisiana. Nate could be a category 1 storm before landfall in the early morning hours of Sunday.
By Sunday night, Nate could once again be a tropical storm straddling north Mississippi and Alabama.