Tropical Storm #Helene Significant flash flood risk to the Carolinas | Brad's #weather vlog 9/24/24

Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 9 was upgraded to Tropical Storm Helene, as of the 11 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday morning. This is the eighth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

The maximum sustained winds are now within the tropical storm criteria, which range between 39 and 73 mph. Helene will continue to become more organized throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. The storm is forecast to rapidly intensify and before sunrise on Wednesday is forecast to become a hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph.

"Regardless of strength, the impacts are going to be pretty devastating somewhere on the Gulf Coast," Panovich said in the vlog, which was posted to the WCNC Charlotte Weather IQ YouTube channel.

Helene is forecast to rapidly intensify.

Rapid intensification is when a tropical system increases its maximum sustained winds by 35 mph or more within 24 hours.

Current estimates show Helene making landfall in either the Florida big bend area or in the Florida panhandle. At landfall, the storm will be a major hurricane with winds over 115 mph.

A "major hurricane" is defined by the National Hurricane Center as any storm Category 3 or higher. That means the storm would have at least sustained winds of 111 mph, according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

As the storm moves further inland, impacts from excessive rain are expected to bring flooding to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

The worst of the flooding could be in the mountains of western North Carolina.

"This is where we're gonna have strong southeast winds interacting with the Blue Ridge Mountains," Panovich said. "You'll see some of these totals coming out of the mountains are approaching 10 inches or above."

Around Charlotte, general rainfall amounts could amount to a couple of inches.

"So this is a significant flash flood risk to the mountains of North Carolina, upstate South Carolina and northeast Georgia," Panovich said. "This is gonna have the potential to have a huge impact on parts of our area in the form of rain."

#Helene #cltwx #ncwx #scwx #wcnc #PTC9 #weather #charlotte #northcarolina #southcarolina

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[irenafarm]

Thank you! Looks like it would be wise to prepare for power outages and flooding.

[MikeLitoriss]

Thanks Brad, you give us just the facts without the hype.