Hurricane Watches Issued Ahead Of Possible Hurricane Barry

This afternoon's update from the National Hurricane Center paints a more clear picture for the threat Louisiana faces. The storm, currently identified as Potential Tropical Cyclone Two, is predicted to strengthen to a hurricane before 1pm on Saturday. At that point, the storm will be named Hurricane Barry, and will be preparing to make landfall in Louisiana.

Due to these predictions, a Hurricane Watch has been issued from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Cameron Parish.

In addition to the Hurricane Watch being issued, some are already looking at evacuations. Vermilion Parish has already issued a Voluntary Evacuation for citizens living in low lying areas. Additionally, off shore workers are already being evacuated through the gulf.

One of the other updates included in the National Hurricane Center's release shows the impacts that we could see in the Ark-La-Tex. In earlier models, it showed the potential strength of the storm dropping to a Tropical Depression before arriving in our area. However the new model shows the storms power at Tropical Storm level once it reaches our region.