The storm is now officially Hurricane Isaac, and it is headed farther west than first thought.

The National Hurricane Center says that Isaac is now expected to make landfall west along the Louisiana coastline, not far from Lafayette, sometime Wednesday afternoon. The eye of the storm is then forecast to move into northeast Texas — an area that is in desperate need of drought-busting rain — and then on into Oklahoma. Indeed, the new projected path takes the bulk of the storm over areas of the country listed as under extreme or exceptional drought conditions by the University of Nebraska’s U.S. Drought Monitor.

That altered path means it is less likely that central Alabama will suffer any ill effects from the storm. Rain is still expected through the area, but heavy amounts are less likely, and only occasional gusts of wind should occur. There is a very small chance of an isolated small tornado along the edges of the feeder bands.

Gov. Robert Bentley has rescinded his evacuation order for low-lying parts of Baldwin and Mobile counties, and the NHC has downgraded the Alabama Gulf Coast from hurricane warning to tropical storm warning from the Alabama-Mississippi state line east to Destin, Fla. The coast will still experience rough seas.