Tropical Storm Isaac could impact UF students this weekend but probably won’t affect school next week.
As of 11 p.m. Thursday night, Isaac was strengthening near Puerto Rico as it moved west-northwestward, according to the National Hurricane Center. Isaac’s projected path leads it across Hispaniola and Cuba before swinging into the Gulf of Mexico early next week.
David Keellings, a UF geology doctoral student who teaches the Extreme Weather course, said Isaac probably won’t threaten Gainesville.
“I don’t expect it’ll be a very severe hurricane, if it’s a hurricane at all,” Keellings said.
He said the storm’s track is moving westward, directing it more toward Tampa and the Republican National Convention but farther away from UF.
Still, UF administration is keeping an eye on Isaac, said university spokesman Steve Orlando.
A UF alert went out Thursday afternoon encouraging students, faculty and staff traveling this weekend to do so carefully.
The last time campus closed for severe weather was in 2008 for Tropical Storm Fay, Orlando said, but UF won’t hesitate to cancel classes to keep students safe.
“If we have hurricane-force winds in Gainesville, there wouldn’t be any question about it,” he said.
Contact Julia Glum at jglum@alligator.org.
