Hurricane Idalia: Tuesday afternoon forecast

FOX 13 Meteorologist Tony Sadiku says Hurricane Idalia will strengthen as wind shear weakens and it moves over very warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Sadiku says Hurricane Idalia has picked up speed and as of noon on Tuesday was moving north at 14 miles an hour. He expects Hurricane Idalia to become a category 2 storm when it is off the coast of the Bay Area and then reach category 3 strength before it makes landfall in the Big Bend. At this point Sadiku says he does not expect the track to shift much as it moves north. He did caution that while the Bay Area is not in Hurricane Idalia’s direct path, we are on the east side of a storm that will have winds of 120 miles per hour, putting it just under category 4 strength. That means the Bay Area is likely to see a storm surge of 4-7 feet, with a storm surge of 10-15 feet for the northern counties.