Isaias has become the first hurricane of the 2026 hurricane season.

A special advisory was issued by the National Hurricane Center at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday after Hurricane Hunter aircraft recorded maximum sustained winds of 75mph.

The storm was moving east-northeast at 9mph per hour.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for a portion of the western Florida panhandle.

Hurricane force winds, storm surge, flooding and tornadoes will be possible across North Florida and the Gulf Coast late Friday night into Saturday morning.

The storm is expected to steadily intensify into a category 2 hurricane in the Central Gulf before weakening somewhat prior to landfall as wind shear increases.

Isaias is the latest-forming first hurricane on record in the satellite era (1966), shattering the previous record of Sept. 11.

Hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.