The latest forecast track for Tropical Storm Hermine will take the storm over Central North Carolina after it makes landfall in Florida and moves up through Georgia and SC.
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Strengthening is still possible, and the depression could become a tropical storm later Wednesday, but it is expected to continue moving northeast, according to the National Hurricane Center. In some areas, sustained winds of 35 to 50 miles per hour with gusts to 70 miles per hour will occur through tonight. Forecasters say Hermine could be near hurricane strength by Thursday night as it approaches the Gulf Coast.
In Florida, a hurricane watch was posted Tuesday over a tropical depression brewing in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV reports that Madeline could be worse than Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014, which toppled hundreds of albizia trees on the Big Island and caused an estimated $79 million in damage. And on the East Coast, a tropical storm warning was issued for an area that extended from Marineland, Florida, northward to the South Santee River in SC. Oil majors operating in the affected area have already begun shutting in wells, evacuating personnel and moving DP drilling rigs out of the storm’s expected path. 10 platforms have been evacuated as of Wednesday.
A hotel manager on Ocracoke Island said Wednesday morning that residents and tourists experienced less than an inch of rain.
Hermine is now churning in the Gulf of Mexico west of Florida.
Water temperatures in the Gulf are plenty warm enough to support hurricane development, and the Gulf Coast is full of vulnerable population centers from Tampa to Texas.
Hurricane Madeline has been downgraded to a Category 1 storm. — 8 a.m. The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Hermine (her-MEEN) has formed from a system swirling in the Gulf of Mexico. The animation showed the movement of Hurricane Madeline intensify from a Category 2 to Category 4 hurricane.
Hawaii county is under a Hurricane warning, but Masters offers a little hope in that Lester is catching Madeline and that may produce something known as the Fujiwhara effect.
The approaching system, now an unnamed tropical depression packing 35 miles per hour (55 kph) winds with higher gusts, could be near hurricane strength at landfall, forecasters said. Its sustained winds dropped to 90 mph as hurricane-force winds extended out to 25 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds were up to 12 miles outward.
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Madeline is weakening and is expected to pass south of the Big Island of Hawaii, with a chance of tropical storm force winds extending as far as Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Evans says the area could see hurricane-strength winds of up to 80 miles per hour. Steady weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Madeline is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm later today or tonight. A tropical storm watch is in effect from Indian Pass to the Walton/Bay County line. Some areas could see up to 15 inches of rain. Surf will peak over the weekend, becoming very large and damaging. The Namakani Paio Campground and Cabins and the coastal lava viewing area and Chain of Craters road will close by 9 a.m. Wednesday.
