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April 17, 2024 |
Bonnie debuts with opening of hurricane season CHARLESTON - Forecasters issued a tropical storm warning for the South Carolina coast Saturday and told residents gearing up for the long Memorial Day weekend to expect strong winds, rain and storm surge along the shores into North Carolina by early Sunday.
The National Weather Service says the Atlantic Ocean formation known as Tropical Depression Two is heading toward the coast at 14 mph and could turn into Tropical Storm Bonnie with winds of 39 mph before making landfall near Charleston. The system, which is likely to be slow moving after going ashore, is expected to bring heavy rain inland and along the Mid-Atlantic coast into New England on Memorial Day. The federal government predicts a near-normal 2016 hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin, with four to eight hurricanes expected to form. Overall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts 10 to 16 named tropical storms will develop in the region, which includes the Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the agency announced Friday. The season officially begins Wednesday and runs through Nov. 30. Of the hurricanes, one to four could be major, with wind speeds of 111 mph or higher and rated as Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale of Hurricane Intensity. An average season typically spawns six hurricanes and peaks in August and September. A tropical storm contains wind speeds of 39 mph or higher and becomes a hurricane when winds reach 74 mph. AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, two of the largest private weather forecasting companies, both predicted 14 named tropical storms will form, with eight becoming hurricanes. Colorado State University meteorologists last month predicted 12 tropical storms, five of them hurricanes. Colorado State University meteorologist William Gray, who recently passed away, was the first scientist to make seasonal hurricane forecasts in the 1980s. As it does every year, NOAA called for preparedness, noting it only takes one storm for a bad season. After Bonnie, the next few named storms of the Atlantic hurricane season will be Colin, Danielle, Earl and Fiona. (Source: USA Today) Story Date: May 29, 2016
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