Cold front helps spare the area from hurricane

Escambia County (Ala.) Emergency Management Director David Adams said the cold front heading to the area from the west has been a 'win-win' situation with the front pushing Hurricane Michael to the east and will bring a break to the historic high temperatures that have plagued the area.

The hurricane was set to hit near Panama City Wednesday afternoon. The latest updates a 10:30 a.m. Wednesday had the storm as a Category 4 with winds of 150 mph and could possibly become a Category 5 storm before landfall.

Other good news within the bad is the storm is picking up speed. As of 10:30 a.m. the storm was moving at 14 mph, which was expected to increase before landfall. The increased speed of the storm will mean the storm will quickly leave the area once it makes landfall.

Adams addressed the Escambia County Commission Monday morning with an update, telling commissioners at that time if the storm stayed on its projected path, the county should be spared any major threat.

“We're in pretty good shape,” Adams told commissioners. “But it won't take much of a shift to the west for it to get worse.”

Adams has been sending out updates and telling people to simply keep an eye on the storm. In his Monday meeting with the commissioners, rainfall in the eastern end of the county to Brewton was expected to be about 2 inches. That amount dropped to about 1 inch Tuesday, but increased back to close to 2 inches on Wednesday's forecasts.

Adams said when the storms forward speed increased, it delayed the eastward hook expected by several hours.

Wednesday morning, Adams said the area was expected to see 35 mph winds at the peak of the storm with gusts of up to 47.

“Our saving grace is that cold front,” Adams said. “It not only helped push the storm east, but we'll get some relief from the heat.”

Area residents appeared to take the storm seriously with at least one station in Flomaton running out of gasoline Monday afternoon after topping the tanks Monday morning.

According to the National Weather Service, the impact along the gulf coast will be significant where the hurricane hits. The increased speed of the hurricane and the increased wind speed will cause a greater impact inland. Hurricane force winds are expected as far west as Andalusia.

Adams added that by early Wednesday morning things should begin to clear up.