Tropical Storm Ophelia forms off US coast; second Atlantic system likely
Tropical Storm Ophelia formed as it headed toward the coast of North Carolina on Friday afternoon, with stormy weather spreading over portions of the state. Meanwhile, a second system is likely to form in the Atlantic, forecasters said.
Ophelia is expected to make landfall later in the day.
As of 5 p.m. Eastern time Friday, the storm was located about 120 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and 165 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras. It is moving north-northwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds increasing to 70 mph and higher gusts. Tropical-storm-force winds extend out 275 miles.
Ophelia is expected to approach the coast of North Carolina on Friday night, then move across the state as well as Virginia on Saturday and Sunday. Parts of North Carolina are now under a hurricane watch.
“Some additional strengthening cannot be ruled out as Ophelia traverses the warm waters of the Gulf Stream on its approach to eastern North Carolina,” forecasters wrote in the 5 p.m. advisory.
The threat of tornadoes exists along portions of the Mid-Atlantic coast, and areas of North Carolina and southeast Virginia could see 3 to 5 inches of rain with some areas receiving 7 inches.
Watches and warnings have been issued from South Carolina up through the Washington, D.C., area.
Despite moving away from Florida’s east coast to the north, the storm has been causing heavy rainfall and some flooding this week in South Florida. Swells from Ophelia will affect a large part of the U.S. East Coast over the weekend, forecasters said.
A hurricane watch is in effect for the coast of North Carolina from north of Surf City to Ocracoke Inlet.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Cape Fear, North Carolina to Fenwick Island, Delaware as well as Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, tidal Potomac south of Cobb Island and Chesapeake Bay south of North Beach.
A storm surge warning is in effect from Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina to Chincoteague, Virginia as well as Chesapeake Bay south of Colonial Beach, Virginia,, the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, and portions of Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. Some areas could 3 to 5 feet higher than normal.
Meanwhile, the hurricane center is monitoring another system that is increasingly likely to form in the Atlantic.
Showers and thunderstorms from a system a few hundred miles southwest of the islands in the far eastern Caribbean were beginning to organize Friday morning. It is likely to become a tropical depression this weekend or early next week.
As of 2 p.m. Friday, the hurricane center gave it a 70% chance of developing in the next two days and a 90% chance in the next seven days while it heads west between 10 to 15 mph. It’s located a few hundred miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
It is currently expected to curve north before reaching South Florida.
“While it shows a due-west path, there is expected to be a curve to the north,” said Donal Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Miami. “There’s tons of uncertainty as to how far west or east we’ll go with that curve. I’m not seeing anything that raises a large concern of something reaching South Florida. It looks like this thing is going to stay east of us.”
The next named storm would be Philippe.
So far this season in the Atlantic, there have been 14 named storms, six of which were hurricanes. Of those, three were major hurricanes, meaning Category 3 or above.
Those were Hurricane Lee, a rare Category 5; Hurricane Franklin, a Category 4; and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend region at Category 3 strength on Aug. 30.
Hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30.
