Tropical Storm Barry

Below will be my discussion pulled from the News 14 Carolina weather website. A few additional notes here...the NAM finally came around to most other modelling with its 12z run today, so confidence is higher in the eventual track of this system. It looks like the originaly idea posted here of the system remaining close to the coast is still a good one.


My News 14 Carolina discussion....

Tropical Storm Barry has formed in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Maximum sustained winds are near 45mph. The system will likely not strengthen much more before it reaches the Big Bend area of Florida Saturday.

Friday was another warm day around the area with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Tonight, all is quiet around here in the weather department with a partly cloudy sky and lows in the mid 60s.

Saturday will be a different type of day than we have seen recently. Tropical Storm Barry will gradually cross the Florida Peninsula. Well ahead of Barry, lots of clouds will spread our way, and I think the sky becomes mostly cloudy rather early in the day Saturday. Because of the clouds, highs should only be in the lower 80s. A few isolated afternoon shower or storms will be possible, but I think most of us remain dry during the daylight hours Saturday.

The rest of the weekend forecast is entirely dependent on the exact track of Barry. As it stands now, I expect some rain to spread across much of the area from the south Saturday night and continue through a good chunk of Sunday. How much rain??? Impossible to tell at this point. Let's just keep our fingers crossed we do get at least some much-needed rain. The lightest amounts of rain will be over western parts of the area with the heaviest amounts over eastern sections.

If you have beach plans this weekend at the Grand Strand all of the way up through the Outer Banks, expect rain and thunderstorms to arrive later tomorrow and last into at least Sunday morning. Winds will become rather breezy by Saturday night and Sunday morning....some gusts to 60mph are possible. Some dangerous rip currents will be possible as well. Conditions will be much better at the beaches by Monday.

It looks like big-time heat will build in here by the end of next work week....highs in the mid 90s with lows lucky to drop below 70.