Sally little changed, may not be hurricane for long

Tropical Storm Sally showed little sign of strengthening in the 4:00 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.

"The overall structure of Sally has not changed much since this morning," said Daniel Brown with the National Hurricane Center; however "there has been a recent increase in convection near and to the east of the center this afternoon."

Wind shear is finally laying down, and Sally is still forecast to become a hurricane by Monday afternoon.

The current forecast calls for Hurricane Sally to be just off the Plaquemines coastline in Barataria Bay early Tuesday morning with maximum winds of 90 miles per hour, then to have degraded to a tropical storm 12 hours later with top winds of 70 mph, somewhere near lower Jefferson Parish.

Although the forecast does not predict as much intensity as previous bulletins, the hurricane center stresses this storm, which is forecast to move slowly over the region, will cause numerous weather problems.

"Regardless of Sally's exact landfall location and intensity, the cyclone is expected to bring wind, storm surge, and rainfall hazards to a large part of the north-central Gulf Coast. In particular, Sally's slow forward speed near the coast will exacerbate the storm surge and heavy rainfall threats," said Brown.

Reasonable arrival time of tropical storm force winds: