Along the front is a developing storm that is producing areas of rain.
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Tropical storm Ian was expected to head towards the east coast of the United States. This will keep the clear weather conditions over the east.
Julia, which formed from a disturbance that moved in from the Bahamas and hugged the northeast Florida coast on Tuesday before strengthening, was expected to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain along the SC coastline from Georgetown and south, 2 to 4 inches near Savannah, Ga., and 1 to 2 inches from far northeast Florida to far southern North Carolina.
The National Weather Service in Charleston has issued a flash flood watch for Beaufort and Jasper counties in effect until Thursday morning.
Julia, meanwhile, moved north Wednesday and maintained tropical storm strength as it bore down on the coast of SC.
Tropical depression 12 is now about 225 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and is moving west at 14 mph, packing maximum-sustained winds of 35 mph. With the center expected to remain over land, and westerly shear of about 20 kt expected over the next day or so, little change in strength is expected until the system moves farther inland and begins to weaken.
In a rare move, the National Hurricane Center elected to recognize the formation of a tropical storm over land late Tuesday.
Flood watches have been dropped along the SC coast now that Tropical Storm Julia has weakened to a tropical depression and is offshore.
Area school systems were watching the storm Wednesday but didn’t expect it to disrupt school hours.
The greatest risk for flash floods will be areas already soaked by Hurricane Hermine earlier in the month, including Charleston and Myrtle Beach in SC, and Wilmington in North Carolina.
Despite the nasty weather along the coast, Tropical Storm Julia will not affect Michiana in any way, shape or form.
Locally, morning showers will pop up along the coast, 10Weather WTSP meteorologist Bobby Deskins said, while afternoon showers are expected to impact inland areas.
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Videos from the SC and Georgia coasts posted on social media showed high winds and heavy rain. But as students arrived for classes he said, “so far, everything is a go”.
