Tropical Storm Humberto strengthening, new storm following. What that means for SC weather

Tropical Storm Humberto and an unnamed disturbance near the Dominican Republic could bring storm weather to South Carolina this weekend into next week.

After rough currents and large swells from Hurricane Gabrielle fully cleared the South Carolina coast Wednesday evening, the National Hurricane Center officially named another Atlantic storm system: Tropical Storm Humberto. Meteorologists expect Humberto will pass between the Carolinas and Bermuda without directly impacting South Carolina.

“However, it may become a pretty powerful storm, and so we are expecting an increase in rough surf and rip current risk for the early portion of next week, starting Sunday [through] probably at least Wednesday,” said National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Tim Armstrong.

And another tropical storm might form this weekend or early next week, and according to Armstrong, it could have direct impacts on the Carolinas.

A tropical wave near the Dominican Republic is moving northwest across the Southwestern Atlantic with showers and thunderstorms. The NWS predicts the system has a 70% chance of forming a tropical storm by Saturday morning and a 90% chance of forming by next Thursday.

“That’s certainly something we are watching very closely to see what the impacts might be,” Armstrong said. “I will say that, since yesterday, more and more of our longer range models are showing that it may have a path that takes it very close to the South Carolina coast.”

If it develops into a named system, the disturbance will become Tropical Storm Imelda. It’s still too early to predict how strong the potential storm will be, but Armstrong says by Saturday it should be more clear how the system could develop.

As of Thursday morning, he predicted South Carolina’s coast could see impacts from the potential storm Monday through Wednesday next week.

Eastern South Carolina will also likely see showers and thunderstorms unrelated to tropical storm systems this weekend. According to Armstrong, increasing drought conditions over the past month have primed the ground to minimize flooding.

“The ground has a great capacity to soak up water right now, and so there will be very little runoff compared to normal, because the ground is so dry it has such a great capacity to hold water,” Armstrong said.

This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 8:48 AM.