‘Uncertainty is very high’: Myrtle Beach forecasters keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian
Forecasters say it is still too early to tell what exact impacts Hurricane Dorian will bring to the Grand Strand, but the area will most likely see storms over Labor Day weekend that are unrelated to the hurricane.
The Myrtle Beach area could see between one fourth of an inch to one half of an inch of rainfall through the weekend as chances of showers and thunderstorms are likely, said Reid Hawkins with the National Weather Service in Wilmington. The biggest threat from Dorian beginning this weekend for the Grand Strand is rough surf and rip currents.
“Swells from Dorian will start to impact area beaches,” Hawkins said. “Be very, very careful.”
Hawkins said the hurricane is still too far out to tell what specific conditions the Myrtle Beach area could expect.
“The uncertainty is very high,” he said.
Hurricane Dorian, expected to become a Category 4 over the weekend, gradually turned west Friday and will begin to bring tropical storm winds to parts of Florida as early as Sunday morning, forecasters say.
The hurricane is expected to make landfall on Florida’s coast early next week. It’s possible the storm could “turn up the coast” midweek.
“There have been no surprises overnight,” said Meteorologist Ed Piotrowski with WPDE, the Sun News’ news partner.
Piotrowski released four scenarios in a social media update about what Dorian could mean for the region. The strongest scenario, with odds at 45 percent, is that Dorian would stay over land after making landfall in Florida, move northward and then weaken, possibly bringing heavy rain bands, some flooding, a tornado risk but minimal wind and storm surge impacts, he said.
“I can confidently say that IF we were to have any impacts here, it wouldn’t be until Thursday/Friday and long gone by the weekend. It’s still very uncertain just what those impacts will be and it will depend on the exact track of Dorian. The more time Dorian spends over land, the more it weakens and the lower our impacts are,” Piotrowski said in an 11 a.m. Friday social media update.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 12:47 PM.
