Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to become a hurricane later in the day
Columbus, Georgia (WRBL)- Violent thunderstorms swept across the News 3 area this afternoon as a cool front moved through the southeast. This afternoon there were storms with winds up to 60mph, hail and flooding. This front will help cool down temperatures over the next few days.
From tomorrow the focus will be entirely on Idalia. Idalia is still a tropical storm this afternoon but is expected to strengthen into a hurricane in the next few hours. As it advances into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Idalia is expected to rapidly evolve to a Category 3 over the next 24 hours until it makes landfall between Tallahassee and Tampa on Wednesday.
Storm surge will be a major problem in these areas with storm surges up to 10 feet near Cedar Key. Although this storm is expected to pass directly across our southeast on its current path on Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning, we need to keep a close eye on it. A slight westward shift would put our southeastern counties on the path of tropical storm winds.
