Hurricane Delta made landfall early Wednesday morning south of Cancun, Mexico as a Category 2 storm, with sustained winds of 110 mph.
After the storm's interaction with land, it weakened to a Category 1 storm on Wednesday afternoon.
Sea surface temperatures in the western Gulf of Mexico are in the low to mid-80s, which is where the storm will move into through Thursday. The warm sea temperatures and low wind shear will allow the storm to regain strength, potentially back to major hurricane status (Category 3 or higher). But slightly cooler waters just off the Louisiana coast may weaken the storm just slightly before landfall.
Regardless of the category at landfall, hurricane-strength winds of at least 74 mph and storm surge up to 9-11 feet are looking likely where the storm makes landfall. Tropical storm force winds of 34 mph and 1-5 feet of storm surge will be likely well outside of the storm's eye.
Hurricane and storm surge watches have been issued for most of the Louisiana coastline Wednesday, ahead of an expected Friday afternoon landfall, if the storm remains on its current track.
