Powerful Irma winds, rain to subside overnight in Middle Georgia

Monday evening’s forecast shows powerful winds and rain subsiding as Tropical Storm Irma moves southwest of Middle Georgia.

The National Weather Service forecast calls for more heavy rain as the center of the storm moves out of Macon-Bibb, but as the night continues it should “gradually taper off,” said NWS meteorologist Jason Deese.

Irma’s wind gusts of reached upwards of 60 mph on Monday as the storm knocked down trees, power lines and caused some power damage in the area.

But wind speeds will reduce throughout Monday’s evening hours, although there will still the occasional strong gusts.

“After midnight the winds should start coming down,” Deese said. “They’ll probably start lowering to 20 to 25 to 30 miles per hour. Then Tuesday morning there will still be some winds around but not as high as we’ve seen Monday.”

At 8 p.m. Tropical Storm Irma was moving toward the north-northwest near 16 mph, and it was expected to turn toward the northwest by Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. On the forecast track, the center of Irma was expected to continue to move over southwestern Georgia on Monday night and move into Alabama on Tuesday.

Maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 45 mph with higher gusts. Continued weakening is forecast, and Irma is likely to become a tropical depression on Tuesday.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 415 miles from the center.

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This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Powerful Irma winds, rain to subside overnight in Middle Georgia."