Just after 6pm Sunday evening, Tropical Storm Cristobal officially made landfall in Southeast Louisiana between the mouth of the Mississippi River and Grand Isle, LA.

It’s been a rough day along the central Gulf Coast with whipping winds, heavy rain, and a few feet of storm surge lashing areas from coastal Louisiana all the way east into the Florida Panhandle. This will continue through tonight into Monday morning.

Cristobal will continue to inch north up the Mississippi Valley, stretching the flooding threat all the way up in central Missouri over the next day or two. Furthermore, wind and rain will continue to move up through the western Great Lakes by midweek.

As of 5pm Saturday, the center of Tropical Storm Cristobal was located about 280 miles SSW of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It certainly doesn’t have the typical appearance of a tropical cyclone. As expected, the majority of convection and strongest winds are displaced well east of the center.

With only about 24 hours left until landfall in Louisiana, very little strengthening is anticipated as dry air continues to be ingested into the circulation.

Due to the storm’s lopsided structure, impacts will be felt all along the central and eastern Gulf coast, not just near the center of the storm. A tropical storm warning is in effect from Intracoastal City, LA to the Okaloosa/Walton Co. border in the Florida Panhandle. In this area, a period of tropical storm-force winds is likely on Sunday.

Storm surge will be an issue primarily near the mouth of the Mississippi River, where 3-5′ of surge is possible. Further east along the Gulf Coast, all the way down through Tampa Bay, 1-3′ feet of coastal flooding is a possibility.

Numerous tropical downpours will continue on Sunday from Central Florida all the way over to Louisiana. Localized flooding will remain a concern for many. As is usually the case with land-falling tropical systems, brief tornadoes are possible as rain bands move through.