North Myrtle Beach

I had the opportunity to get down with my family to North Myrtle Beach for a couple of days early this week. Even though it wasn't long, it was a much-needed mental break where there were no schedules to keep, no appointments to make, etc...It was a nice 48 hours. One down side is that we passed around some sort of stomach virus...but the good news is that this virus only knocked you down for 10-12 hours. So, all was not lost.

We got back in town about 5:30 yesterday afternoon and immediately headed to church for my oldest daughter's end of the year party for Wednesday night activities. That was a good time. Both Jayden and Grace wound up getting to participate in the activities, and they had a blast.

So, back into the saddle at the big 14 today for the Triad market. Heat is the word through Saturday. Some scattered afternoon storms will also be possible tomorrow and Saturday afternoon. A nice breath of fresh air in the form of cooler temps and lower humidity values will arrive for Sunday and Monday.

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Cool Visibile Satellite Images

Really neat looking at the visible satellite images this afternoon...watching the remnants of Barry lift up the coast. You can go to this site and select Southeast US and the visible loop to see the animation.

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Myrtle Beach

It should be interesting to watch the observations from the Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach tonight.

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Saturday Evening Update...

First band of rain has pushed in from the south and is fizzling out over the northern part of our area. It looks like we will see some occasional showers through the night. Total amounts probably between 0.25" to an inch at most over eastern sections....the lightest amounts will be over western parts of the area.

Squally, windy, rainy weather for the beaches tonight and tomorrow. Winds could gust over 50mph along the South Carolina coast tonight and up through the Outer Banks tomorrow. Rough surf and dangerous riptides will be possible. The coastal weather will be much better Monday.

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So close....

The swath of rain associated with Barry is trying ever so hard to push into our area from the south. Rain is falling in a good chunk of South Carolina and even up into parts of Anson and Richmond counties in the Charlotte region. And, I have to admit that the regional radars do look promising.

I think much of the Charlotte region will be able to get some rain out of this, but certainly the best chance for heavier amounts of rain will skirt by to our east. It is almost painful watching the rain try to crawl in here. Again, let's keep our fingers crossed that we can get at least some decent rain in here....

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Saturday Morning

I am not liking the trends this morning with Barry in terms of us getting some decent rains from the system. It looks like the original idea of the system tracking up just off of the Carolina coast will wind up being a good one. While I still think we have a shot at some rain tonight into tomorrow, the chances for significant rains are diminishing with eash eastward jog of the system. It looks like much of the western Carolinas will be stuck on the dreaded "back side subsidence" side of the system.

Let's hope for the best. At least our friends in some horribly drought-stricken areas of Florida and Georgia are getting some much-needed rains.

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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.

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