A very large and powerful Hurricane Florence continues to trek westward. The winds have dropped to 125 mph, making it a very strong cat 3 hurricane (still a major hurricane). Once again, and I can’t emphasize this enough, it is NOT the wind that will do the most destruction. It never is. It’s the water that will bring the most devastation. So, while winds have dropped by 5 mph, the water is still coming.
Rainfall amounts are being forecast that range between 12 and 40 inches. I wouldn’t be surprised if those amounts are too low. Tennessee is sending swift water rescue crews to South Carolina to aid in rescues. The states of North and South Carolina are in for flooding that may be historical and maybe even unprecedented.
The track continues to bring the storm closer to us by early next week. It looks like we may end up getting some rain and breezy conditions, neither of which will be severe.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Atlantic basin is just getting absolutely crazy. It now looks like we will have two more tropical storms within the next 24-48 hours. That is the red shaded areas you see. It’s anyone’s guess as to which one develops first. They will be Joyce and Kirk. A new disturbance will develop in the wake of Florence later this weekend and will be another area to watch, assuming some of the other traffic doesn’t bump into her. That storm will be Leslie if it develops.
So, we may end up having five tropical storms/hurricanes in the Atlantic and Gulf by Friday. That is just insane.
I’ll be watching it all right here at weatherTAP.
You all have a great evening.