Hurricane Isaias weakened to a tropical storm Saturday afternoon before hitting Florida’s east coast Sunday morning.
Whether it brings rain to Maine mid-week or not depends on which direction it decides to go, according to the National Weather Service in Caribou.
A hazardous weather outlook remains in effect for Maine through Wednesday. If the storm tracks inland over Florida, it is not expected to impact Maine but if it heads east over into the Atlantic Ocean, its remnants could bring wind and rain to all but northern Penobscot, Somerset and Aroostook counties.
The weather service won’t know until Monday where the storm will head.
Early bands of heavy rain from Isaias lashed Florida’s east coast before dawn Sunday as authorities warily eyed the approaching storm, which threatened to snarl efforts to quell surging cases of the coronavirus across the region, according to the Associated Press.
“Don’t be fooled by the downgrade,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned during a news conference on Saturday after the storm — pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs — spent hours roughing up the Bahamas.
Florida authorities closed beaches, parks and virus testing sites, lashing signs to palm trees so they wouldn’t blow away.
The governor said the state is anticipating power outages and asked residents to have a week’s supply of water, food and medicine on hand. Officials wrestled with how to prepare shelters where people can seek refuge from the storm if necessary, while safely social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds declined steadily throughout Saturday, and were at 65 mph by Sunday morning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said at 8 a.m. EDT. The storm’s center was located 40 miles east-southeast of West Palm Beach.
The center of the storm was forecast to approach the southeast coast of Florida early Sunday morning, then travel up the state’s east coast throughout the day unless it turns inland. Little change was expected in the storm’s strength over the next few days, forecasters said.