A tropical system is expected to bring significant swells to the Jersey Shore this weekend. Strong winds from the storm are expected to reach the Florida coast in the panhandle region beginning Thursday night, the hurricane center said.
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The National Weather Service determined the most likely path for the storm by using Hurricane Hunter aircraft and other data sources, said service spokeswoman Susan Buchanan.
But things could change, of course. Sustained winds are at 60 miles per hour with higher gusts and more intensification is likely through tomorrow. Hurricane watches spread along the Florida coast through Panama City Beach to New Port Richey just north of Petersburg and parts of southeast Georgia.
But Wednesday evening’s predicted storm track now shows its Florida landfall a bit farther west, along with its ultimate track inland as it heads into Georgia Friday morning.
“It’s going to be 10 times worse”, she said. Flash Flood Watches and Tropical Storm watches are in effect for Lowndes, Lanier, Echols, Berrien, Clay, Colquitt, Brooks, Thomas, Grady and Decatur counties. We could see 2-4 inches of rainfall with the storm if it keeps its current track over the midlands.
In addition, members of the Clay County Amateur Radio Emergency Service activated at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
“Our teams state wide and locally are ready”. The cold front should sweep Tropical Depression #9 out to sea leaving little impact on the midlands however, timing is everything – especially in weather.
A hotel manager on Ocracoke Island says residents and tourists experienced less than an inch of rain.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks apparently will be spared from a tropical system that has been moving toward the state for days. Winds across then inland areas will gust as high as 30 to 40 miles per hour. The storm is moving to the west at 1 miles per hour.
A tropical storm warning for the North Carolina coast was dropped Tuesday night.
The counties are Lanier, Lowndes, Brooks, Thomas, Grady, Decatur, Seminole, Berrien, Cook, Colquitt, Mitchell, Baker, Miller, Early, Irwin, Ben Hill, Tift, Turner, Worth, Lee, Dougherty, Terrell, Calhoun, Randolph, Clay and Quitman. “We might see this thing get better organized in the Gulf and not lose too much as it moves across the land areas of south Georgia and SC”.
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The National Weather Service also says it’s still not sure just exactly where the weather system will travel and how strong it will get. Rainfall has already swarmed Florida ahead of the storm with a possibility of reaching up to 15 inches tonight. Forecasters warned the northwest of the state could see to 12 inches of rain.
