>>> weather is making news tonight. mandatory evacuations are under way in plaquemines parish , louisiana, where there are fears of storm surge as tropical storm karen closes in. there are warnings along much of the gulf coast . weather channel meteorologist jim cantore is in the florida panhandle . when louisiana is in the cone we worry but given the sport ji surf behind you the cone must be wide.

>> it is, brian. the storm will come north and take a right turn and scrape the florida panhandle . so many are under tropical storm warnings including pensacola beach . this is a tropical storm and that's three to five feet of surge. this is an area not protected by the levee system that protects new orleans. you can see the big sur of. even with the storm offshore the waves come first. life guards are keep ing people out of the water as the waves continue to grow. they have been trying to se w up anything they can on the beach. we ex expect 15 to 65 miles per hour winds here. this is the track and the timing. plaquemines parish around sunday, 1:00 in the morning. so it will be an overnight landfall there. there is the right turn taking you toward pensacola beach probably sunday at 1:00. a lot of the wet weather on the east side of the storm mostly in the florida panhandle . there will be a surge component, the most dangerous part of any tropical system.

>> jim, we'll keep an eye