The National Hurricane Center Forecast Track of Hermine takes the storm to roughly Apalachicola Early Friday Morning as a strong Tropical Storm/Minimal Hurricane. Some strengthening is anticipated and Hermine is expected to be a hurricane by the time landfall occurs.
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Although the full force of the storm isn’t expected to reach land until after nightfall, tropical winds will begin gusting up to 40 miles per hour Thursday afternoon, complicating any last-minute storm planning. As of early Thursday, its maximum sustained winds were near 60 miles per hour. A hurricane warning is in effect from Suwanee River to Mexico Beach while areas from Anclote River to Suwanee River and west of Mexico Beach to Destin are under a hurricane watch.
The National Weather Service has raised tropical storm warnings from the South Santee River south into Florida. That area is also under a hurricane watch. A tropical storm watch is in effect from Marineland, Florida to Altamaha Sound, Georgia.
That means bases such as the Army’s Fort Stewart, Georgia: the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia; and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, could feel the effects of the storm.
The storm will stay to our east but make the closest pass to the WBTV viewing area overnight on Friday. Scott says with the storm on course to cut across North Florida, residents from Panama City to Jacksonville should be prepared.
The hurricane center also predicts storm surge along the coast to vary between one and three feet above ground level. By late in the afternoon into the evening, rain could be heavy at times.
The storm surge watch/warning graphic highlights spots with the highest risk for “life-threatening inundation from storm surge”, the service said.
Previously dubbed Tropical Depression Nine, it strengthened into a tropical storm with 40-mph winds Wednesday afternoon. The period is described as the “season within the season” by forecasters. This eight-week period “is often the most active and risky time for tropical cyclone activity”, NOAA explained on its website.
Early models suggest that the storm will be a hurricane as it turns out to sea.
It has been more than 3,873 days since hurricane Wilma bullied ashore near Cape Romano in October 2005.
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In Tift County, school officials said that they’re working with the Emergency Management Agency.
