UPDATE: Myrtle Beach put in tropical storm watch for Helene. Here’s what the forecast says
A big tropical weather event is looming for southeastern states.
Named storm Helene is expected to be a tropical storm as it makes landfall in Florida in the coming days.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service out of Wilmington, NC said North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach are all under a Tropical Storm watch within the next 48 hours.
Coastal towns in South Carolina, including Hilton Head Island, were put into Tropical Storm Watch ahead of the weekend.
That means that areas in Bluffton, Beaufort and Hilton Head could expect winds between 25 to 35 miles per hour with some gusts up to 45 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service outpost in Charleston, SC.
According to the latest updates from Myrtle Beach’s closest National Weather Service station in Wilmington, NC, here’s what’s next for the Grand Strand.
As of 6:24 a.m. on Wednesday, the NWS said to expect some hazardous weather from Thursday through Tuesday.
Increasing onshore winds as a result of Helene have the potential to cause coastal flooding on Thursday and Friday as the storm moves up through the southeastern United States, the forecast said.
“Helene is expected to become a large storm with impacts that will extend far outside the forecast cone,” Meteorologist-in-Charge for the NWS Wilmington Station, Steven Pfaff, said via email. “However, the current thinking is that impacts for northeast SC and southeast NC will be mostly low-end.”
Pfaff said there still could be some gusty winds, rain and tornado threats as a result of the storm.
Starting late Thursday night into Friday, NWS meteorologists predict that “periods of heavy rain and isolated tornadoes” would be possible as the outer rings of Helene move on shore.
A national update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday morning said there is “a life-threatening storm surge” along the entire west coast of the Florida peninsula.
“Considerable and potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding is expected across portions of Florida, the Southeast, the Southern Appalachians, and the Tennessee Valley beginning today through Friday,” the weather update from NOAA said. “This includes the risk of landslides across the southern Appalachians.”
NOAA has also predicted that widespread minor to moderate river flooding could happened, and some major river flooding is possible.
As of Wednesday at 9:34 a.m., no river flood warnings related to Helene have been released by the NWS for the Pee Dee or Grand Strand areas.
This story was originally published September 25, 2024 at 10:44 AM.
