Dry air and wind shear are doing a number on Francine.
While the storm is still a Category 1 hurricane with sustained wind speeds up to 90 miles per hour, Francine is not expected to get any stronger.
"It may just hold steady at the intensity that it is right now," National Weather Service meteorologist Phil Grigsby said. "We're still seeing maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour."
Grigsby told WWL's Newell Normand that areas as far inland as Baton Rouge will see hurricane-force winds. Even areas that get only tropical storm-force winds--such as New Orleans--will still feel Francine's impact.
"We are expecting to see power outages," Grigsby said. "We will see trees that are uprooted because of the saturated soil conditions, especially the further west you go--west of New Orleans."
Grigsby says if you haven't evacuated yet... your best bet is to hunker down until tomorrow.
"Everybody needs to stay home, stay in place, and ride out the storm over the next several hours," Grigsby said. "This is kind of the hunker down phase. Everybody needs to stay at home and let the storm pass--ride it out. Then once conditions begin to improve, especially into tomorrow morning, then we can begin to do the recovery and the cleanup."
