Tropical Depression Two, which will likely be upgraded to Tropical Storm Bonnie on Saturday, is the first tropical storm of the 2016 U.S. Hurricane Season and has prompted a warning for the coast of SC, a scenario that will likely dampen the Memorial Day weekend for millions of residents, reports The Washington Post.
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The Atlantic hurricane season officially starts June 1, but Bonnie would be the second named storm of the season. Tropical Storm Alex formed in January.
The next update from the National Hurricane Center will be at 2 p.m.
A tropical depression strengthened to Tropical Storm Bonnie on Saturday. Maximum sustained winds increased to almost 40 miles per hour.
National Weather Service forecasters said the disturbance has an 80 percent chance of becoming a named storm by 3 a.m. Sunday.
A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the Savannah River to Little River Inlet in SC.
Tropical storm warnings are up all along the SC coast as a tropical depression moves toward shore. Gradual weakening is expected on Sunday. But in the recent years, we had a persistent area of low pressure pushing storms away from the U.S. These small scale, short term patterns can be only forecasted a couple of weeks in advance, making the entire hurricane season forecast that much more hard.
Tropical Storm Bonnie formed Saturday afternoon off the coast of SC as heavy rains from the system ruined the start of the long holiday weekend. Tornadoes also are possible tonight through early Sunday morning.
It’s an annual reminder from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that coastal living comes with significant risks.
The message of the day was to prepare now.
A long-awaited federal hurricane forecast predicts a “near normal” season of four to eight hurricanes this year and says we may be entering a decades-long era of fewer hurricanes.
A storm has to have winds of 39 miles per hour to be considered a tropical storm and get a name. It had winds of 35 miles per hour.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force’s (RBDF) auxiliary landing craft, the HMBS Lawrence Major, is running supplies throughout the country, as some Family Islands are still working to fix damage sustained during the 2015 storm season, particularly Hurrican Joaquin which hit last October. But over the past three years, which have seen weaker hurricane seasons, the ocean has been cooler, leading scientists to think that the Atlantic is making its period shift to two or more decades of cooler water.
THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Friday urged Bahamians to be aware of their level of preparedness as global forecasters officially announced projections for the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season.
Alex, a rare wintertime storm that threatened the Azores island group far off the coast of Portugal, never came near the United States.
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Other names on the 2016 list include Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Ian, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie and Walter.
