 On September 16 , 44 hours before Hurricane Isabel made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina , the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm watch for the entire coastline of Delaware . The National Hurricane Center also briefly issued a hurricane watch for the coastline . On September 17 , 26 hours before Isabel made landfall , the watches were changed to tropical storm warnings . While over the western Atlantic Ocean as a Category 5 hurricane , forecasters predicted Isabel would move northwestward and within five days be at a position 155 miles ( 250 km ) south @-@ southeast of Lewes as a 115 mph ( 185 km / h ) major hurricane . Though located within the cone of uncertainty , all subsequent forecasts predicted a landfall on North Carolina with the hurricane passing to the west of the state . 
