Several could make landfall – or at least brush the coastline – later this week, bringing heavy rains and possible flooding. As much as 15 inches (38 cm) could fall from central to northern Florida, National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A warning was dropped about a tropical depression that had been moving toward North Carolina.
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Lynn Scott and Ralph Gibson hug under the red high hazard flag, on one of the dune crossovers, as dark clouds from a storm hang over the ocean on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2106 in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
A video taken from the International Space Station on Tuesday captured all three systems, as seen from orbit. We will be following that storm in the coming days. We are monitoring it closely as its impacts are already being felt, but its proximity to land limits the storm’s ability to strengthen significantly.
Forecasts say the storm will eventually pass within 50 miles of South Point.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for…
Hermine is now churning in the Gulf of Mexico west of Florida. Forecasters downgraded Hurricane Madeline to a tropical storm as the system veered past Hawa. Maximum sustained winds at the hurricane’s center were at 80 miles per hour.
Oahu, Kauai and Molokai’s east shores are under a high surf advisory as waves generated by Madeline’s winds come ashore. During the past couple of hours, tropical storm force winds of 43 mph gusting to 51 mph have been reported at Kamuela Airport in Hawaii County.
In South Carolina, Friday night lights will be Thursday night lights in many areas. Maui County remains under a Tropical Storm Warning.
Residents in some low-lying communities in Florida were being asked to evacuate Thursday as the storm approached.
“There is a danger of life-threatening inundation within the next 36 hours along the Gulf coast of Florida”, it said. Drier air and strong upper atmosphere winds are weakening Hurricane Madeline as it approaches Hawaii.
Hurricane Madeline has weakened to a tropical storm as it advances toward Hawaii’s Big Island, while a hurricane warning has been issued for another storm approaching the Gulf Coast of Florida, where the governor has called an emergency. Whether the storm makes landfall or not, hurricane-force winds and very heavy rainfall are likely.
Madeline, as it weakened with sustained winds of about 70 mph (113 kph) on Wednesday afternoon, was about 75 miles (121 km) southeast of the Big Island, said Central Pacific Hurricane Center meteorologist Ray Tanabe.
A second hurricane, Lester, is following close behind Madeline in the Pacific, and is expected to pass just north of the islands on Saturday. Total rainfall accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, with isolated maximum amounts up to 4 inches, can be expected in the islands of Maui County, mainly over windward terrain. The forecast now calls for Lester to miss the islands directly, pushing just to the north, but the entire island chain is still in the forecast “cone of uncertainty”.
Workers board up the windows of a store in Hilo, Hawaii as Hurricane Madeline approached the Big Island on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016.
On the Big Island, waves crashed into a seawall that surrounds Liliuokalani Gardens Park at Hilo Bay.
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For storm information specific to your area, please monitor products issued by the National Weather Service office in Honolulu Hawaii.
