Isaias strengthens into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season

This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Isaias off the eastern coast of Mexico on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/via AP hide caption

Isaias strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season late Wednesday as it surged towards the U.S. Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said.

Forecasters warned that it was on track to make landfall between the Mississippi coast and the Florida Panhandle late Friday or early Saturday and was expected to bring heavy rains and potentially flash flooding.

The center of the cyclone was about 460 miles (745 kilometers) south-southwest of the Mississippi River, with maximum sustained winds around 75 mph (120 kph), according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane center. It was moving east-northeast at 9 mph (15 kph).

Isaias is developing more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season, nearly tying a 121-year-old record for the area's latest-forming hurricane. According to the National Weather Service, the record dates to 1905, when the year's first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity has been above average in the Pacific, where Tropical Storm Simon formed Wednesday off Mexico.

After Isaias (pronounced ees-ah-EE'-ahs, according to the hurricane center) became a tropical storm Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico, communities in its potential path worked quickly to prepare. Some Gulf oil wells paused production while governors in Florida and Alabama declared a state of emergency for dozens of counties.

Isaias is expected to strike along a wide swath of coastline that's very familiar with major hurricanes.