1. A dangerous storm surge is continuing along portions of theMississippi and Alabama coastline and will gradually subside in the early morning hours on Thursday.

2. Dangerous hurricane conditions expected to continue for the next few hours near and along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. Tropical storm conditions will also continue for portions of the Tropical Storm Warning area along the Alabama and far western Florida Panhandle coasts.

3. Strong, damaging wind gusts, which could cause tree damage andpower outages, will spread well inland across portions ofsoutheastern Mississippi, Alabama, northern Georgia, the Carolinas,and southeastern Virginia overnight and Thursday due to Zeta's fastforward speed. Wind gusts could be especially severe across thesouthern Appalachian Mountains on Thursday.

4. Through Thursday, heavy rainfall is expected from portions of the central U.S. Gulf Coast into the Mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, southern to central Appalachians, and Mid-Atlantic States near and in advance of Zeta. This rainfall will lead to flash, urban, small stream, and minor river flooding.

CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:

The Hurricane and Storm Surge Warnings have been discontinued for all of Louisiana, including Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for...
- Mouth of the Pearl River to Navarre Florida
- Pensacola Bay and Mobile Bay

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for...
- Mouth of the Pearl River to the Mississippi/Alabama border

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...
- Mississippi/Alabama border to Walton/Bay County Line Florida

A Storm Surge Warning means there is a danger of lifethreatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline in the indicated locations. For a depiction of areas at risk, please see the National Weather Service Storm Surge Watch/Warning Graphic, available at hurricanes.gov. This is a lifethreatening situation. Persons located within these areas should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions. Promptly follow evacuation and other instructions from local officials.

A Hurricane Warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area.

A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area.

For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

Key messages for Zeta can be found in the Tropical Cyclone Discussion under AWIPS header MIATCDAT3, WMO header WTNT43 KNHC, and on the web at www.hurricanes.gov/text/MIATCDAT3.shtml.

STORM SURGE: Along the northern Gulf Coast, the combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide...

East of the Mouth of the Pearl River to Dauphin Island AL...47 ft Mobile Bay...46 ft Dauphin Island AL to AL/FL border...35 ft AL/FL border to Navarre FL including Pensacola Bay...24 ft Mouth of the Atchafalaya River to the Mouth of the Pearl River...13 ft Lake Maurepas, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Borgne...13 ft Navarre FL to Yankeetown FL including Choctawhatchee Bay and Saint Andrew Bay...13 ft The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the right of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves. Surgerelated flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

WIND: Hurricane or Tropical Storm conditions are expected to continue within the Warning areas near the northern Gulf Coast overnight.

Damaging winds, especially in gusts, will spread well inland across portions of southeastern Mississippi, Alabama, and northern Georgia this evening through early Thursday morning, and into the Carolinas and southeastern Virginia on Thursday. Wind gusts could be especially severe across the southern Appalachian Mountains on Thursday.

RAINFALL: Areas of heavy rainfall, both in advance of Zeta and along the track of Zeta, will impact areas from the central Gulf Coast to the MidMississippi and Ohio Valleys, and east into the southern to central Appalachians and MidAtlantic through Thursday. Rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches with isolated amounts of 6 inches are expected across these areas, resulting in flash, urban, small stream, and minor river flooding.

TORNADOES: A few tornadoes are possible overnight over parts of southern Alabama and the western Panhandle of Florida. An isolated tornado or two is possible tomorrow across much of the Carolinas and southern Virginia.

At 1000 PM CDT (0300 UTC), the center of Hurricane Zeta was located near latitude 31.5 North, longitude 88.7 West. Zeta is moving toward the northeast near 31 mph (50 km/h). An even faster northeastward motion is expected overnight through Thursday, then a rapid eastnortheastward motion is anticipated through Friday. On the forecast track, the center of Zeta will move into southern Alabama soon and then move quickly across the southeastern eastern United States through Thursday before emerging offshore of MidAtlantic coast late Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 80 mph (130 km/h) with higher gusts. Further weakening is expected, and Zeta should decay into a tropical storm overnight and into a nontropical galeforce low Thursday morning. The low should become absorbed by a frontal system over the western Atlantic on Friday.

Hurricaneforce winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropicalstormforce winds extend outward up to 150 miles (240 km). Mobile Regional Airport recently;y reported sustained winds of 48 mph (78 km/h) and a wind gust of 91 mph (146 km/h).

The estimated minimum central pressure is 979 mb (28.91 inches).

The center of Zeta made landfall on the Louisiana coast south of Cocodrie at about 4 pm CDT with maximum sustained winds of about 95 kt. Since then, the hurricane has raced across southeastern Louisiana and is now over southeastern Mississippi. While the sustained winds have been coming down, the satellite presentation is actually not very degraded for a system that has been over land for this long, and there have been reports of 100-mph wind gusts during the past couple of hours. The initial wind speed is set to 70 kt on the basis of radar velocities and the decay-SHIPS model.

The hurricane is accelerating tonight toward the northeast or040/27 kt. While Zeta should continue to weaken due to landeffects, strong gusty winds are likely to occur near and east of thecenter due to the cyclone moving rapidly northeastward, allowing these strong winds to spread well inland. Little change was made to the intensity forecast. Zeta should become extratropical andmerge with a front before moving off the Mid-Atlantic coast,eventually merging with a frontal boundary in a couple of days. Theofficial track forecast most closely follows a blend of the modelconsensus and the GFS, and is faster than the last NHC track.Note that the wind gust factor for this hurricane is higher than typical for a tropical cyclone, and that is reflected in the Forecast/Advisory product.