7 AM Update: Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday. Hurricane Francine is set to make landfall late this afternoon and/or evening. All final preparations for the storm should be completed this morning. Remove all loose items from your patio, back and front porches and bring your plants inside. Winds will become breezy this morning and wind speeds will keep increasing throughout today. The Baton Rouge area could experience wind speeds of 50-60 mph. It will likely be a little higher in spots east of us. Multiple watches and warnings are still in effect for the Greater Baton Rouge area. East and West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Assumption, and Ascension parishes are under a hurricane warning. The rest of the Greater Baton Rouge area is under a tropical storm warning. A flood watch is in effect through 7 AM Thursday. Since the track of Francine has shifted a little to the east, the tornado threat is a little lower now for our area. Usually, the eastern, especially the northeastern side of a hurricane is where the conditions are more conducive for tornadoes to form. Southeast Louisiana is still split between a marginal and a slight risk for severe weather, but the areas under the slight risk are mostly in the Greater New Orleans area and across the Gulf Coast (MS coast, AL coast, part of FL panhandle). The timing could change again for Francine. The track has been consistent with an evening landfall until yesterday. The timing adjusted to this afternoon. Now it looks like it could make landfall this evening. Also, the track shifted to the east so now landfall could be near Morgan City instead of Vermilion Bay. Regardless of the exact location, landfall will still be somewhere along the south central Louisiana coast. Baton Rouge is directly in the path. Wind speeds could be around 50-60 mph and gusts could be about the same speed or a little higher. Since we're farther from the coast, we'll have slightly better conditions than those on the coast because the storm will of course weaken as it moves over land. Francine will weaken to a tropical storm within the Baton Rouge area later tonight and overnight into Thursday morning. Rain will continue clearing out early Thursday. Drier weather will return on Friday and for this weekend. Just to recap, everything that you need to do regarding hurricane prep should be completed this morning. More updates will be shared on air and online.

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