NEW ORLEANS — With Hurricane Francine making landfall Wednesday in Louisiana, many people have started asking what exactly "make landfall" means.
Most could probably guess that landfall has something to do with a storm's eyewall reaching land. That is correct, but to be more precise, landfall is officially "[t]he intersection of the surface center of a tropical cyclone with a coastline," according to the National Weather Service. Basically, that means when the center of the hurricane touches land, it's "made landfall."
As the NWS notes, technically, a storm's strongest winds could already be onshore for quite some time before landfall officially happens. Conversely, it's also possible for a storm to make landfall while its strongest winds are still out at sea.
When does Hurricane Francine make landfall?
Francine made landfall just after 5 p.m. near St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes. It is moving quickly and should be out of the state by Thursday morning.
Track the storm below:
Do you have a question for WWL Louisiana? Text us at 504-529-4444. We're answering many of them during our live coverage of Hurricane Francine.