Tropical storms become hurricanes when wind speeds reach 74 miles per hour.
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Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said a hurricane watch is issued even if the official forecast is only for a tropical storm, if there is enough uncertainty in the future of a system that will be in an environment favorable for development.
The Gulf Coast is not only worrying about increased rainfall and storm surge, but also the increased risk of tornadoes. Flooding was expected across a wide swath of the Big Bend, which has a marshy coastline and is made up of mostly rural communities and small towns, where fishing, hunting and camping are mainstays of life. At that point, the forecasts become very uncertain. “It needs to get its act together”.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for Florida’s Gulf coast from the Anclote River to the Walton/Bay County Line. Hurricane watches are active for Hawaii county as Madeline will skirt the southern portion of the island. I suspect they issued due to a few models increasing to hurricane strength and a blow up of convection more to the North of the suspected center. Depending on where the storm system moves, the strongest winds will be just east of its center, though gusty conditions are possible west of the center, as well. The highest winds will be very near the coast and along the beaches where wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour will be possible.
The storm will then continue up the East Coast giving way to clearing conditions across the Carolinas by Sunday.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Hawaii and Maui counties.
“We are expecting plenty of tropical downpours in Central Florida over the next couple of days”, News 6 meteorologist Candace Campos said.
“Locally, southwesterly wind will continue to stream in tropical moisture over the area through Friday”, Campos said.
Looking to the Pacific, Hurricane Lester, yet another storm, spun with winds of 120 miles per hour and could eventually impact portions of Hawaii by the Labor Day weekend.
The system was forecast to strengthen back into a hurricane by Monday morning off the Maryland-Delaware coast before weakening again as it moves north.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks will likely be drenched as a tropical weather system blows by with up to 5 inches of heavy rain.
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Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson writes in an email that the tropical depression resulted in “no impacts” on areas such as Cape Hatteras. Highs middle 80s. Rain chance 50%.
