Isaac heads for Gulf Coast

Isaac is becoming better organized this morning. The image above is from 8:15am.

There is lots to blog about on this Monday morning. Lets start locally where summer is going out the same way it started, hot. Very warm and dry weather has prevailed in Ontario and Quebec most of this summer and this weekend was no different. Temperatures under brilliant sunshine reached 32C (90F) in Montreal Saturday and Sunday. The week looks warm with temperatures lowering slightly with cloud cover and some thunderstorms today into the upper 20's. The middle week looks sunny and dry and a little more seasonable before another surge of hot air arrives for Labor Day weekend. Temperatures by Friday could be in the low 30's once again. We will have to watch what the remains of Isaac do next weekend but that is way too far out at this time. To be honest we could use the rain. Most of the trees in my neighborhood are drying up with the green leaves falling off the trees. It has been many years since I have seen this.

High winds and rain in Key West, Florida on Sunday. (Getty Images)

ISAAC
Speaking of Isaac, forecasters are having a difficult time with this system that has threatened to reach the 74mph threshold for a hurricane but just has not been able to. The many computer models that predict the storm track have Isaac coming onshore anywhere from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.We are still expecting Isaac to pull together and become a strong storm in the next 24-48 hours. This morning the elongated and poorly organized center of Isaac is located about 405 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Recent model runs have been placing the likely location for landfall further west, therefore Hurricane Warnings are now in effect from Morgan City, Louisiana to Destin Florida. This include metro New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. While Isaac only has 65mph winds this morning, the water and air in his path are extremely favorable for strengthening today into tonight. All resident in the warning area should be preparing their plans for Isaac now. While Isaac is taking a similar path as Katrina did 7 years ago almost to the date, the similarities at this time stop there. Time will tell just how strong Isaac wants to become. The Florida Keys and south Florida were spared a direct hit but heavy rain did cause some flooding and winds produced power outages to about 20,000 residents.

In Haiti and eastern Cuba heavy rains and mudslides produced major flooding that destroyed some homes and killed at least 7 people.