Tropical storm warnings issued for Carolina coast as system develops in the Atlantic

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 14:09:06 +0000

With the likelihood climbing that a tropical storm could form off the coast of the Carolinas by week's end, the National Weather Service has issued tropical storm warnings for the North Carolina and South Carolina coastline.

The storm, which would get the name Ophelia if it was to be named, is attempting to organize itself Thursday. As of 5 p.m., the storm had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph with higher gusts. The storm was developing about 345 miles south and east of Charleston, or about 415 miles south of Hatteras, over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The storm is officially being referred to as Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen due to not being a tropical depression or tropical storm yet. The National Hurricane Center using 'potential tropical cyclones' only began a few years ago as a way to issue tropical storm and hurricane alerts earlier and give folks an earlier heads up.

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