East's Weather Page: 2016-10-02

Matthew battering the South Carolina and Georgia coast

>> Saturday, October 08, 2016

Hurricane Matthew is absolutely battering coastal South Carolina and Georgia this morning, and I am afraid the results will be pretty devastating on the South Carolina barrier islands south of Charleston.

For our area, we will continue to have the moderate to heavy rain shield on the NW flank of Matthew overspread the area for a large portion of today. The lightest rain totals will be in our foothill areas, but from roughly I-85 and points south and east, 2-4" of rain are possible.

Winds will be an issue later today with NE winds gusting over 25-30mph at times. That might bring down a few trees with saturated ground conditions in place. It will remains fairly breezy through tonight and tomorrow.

Much drier and cooler air begins to flow in here tonight, and the weather setup looks fantastic tomorrow through all of next work week. Each day will feature plenty of sunshine and highs will be in the 60s and 70s. Morning lows will actually be quite cool with many days beginning in the 40s.

Get the latest on Hurricane Matthew on TWC News. Meteorologist are working around the clock to bring you the latest information.

Be safe!

Matthew paralleling the Florida coast.... surge problems for Georgia and South Carolina

>> Friday, October 07, 2016

An easterly flow on the north side of Hurricane Matthew will continue to bring us intervals of rain today and tonight. Temperatures will be held in check with highs only in the 60s today.

Hurricane Matthew will continue to parallel the Florida coast today and will likely brush near the South Carolina coast, possibly making a brief landfall, late tonight. I am concerned about the storm surge potential in Georgia and South Carolina with this due to a prolonged onshore flow as well as the very low pressure associated with the hurricane.

The heavier shield of rain associated with Matthew will likely make it up to roughly the I-85 corridor late tonight through Saturday morning. For the Triad and Charlotte regions, I think a total of 1-3" of rain is possible with the heaviest amounts being the further south and east you go in the area.

Much drier and cooler air arrives for Sunday. I expect essentially full sunshine Sunday through the middle of next week, and low beginning Monday morning will likely dip into the 40s!

Matthew pounding the NW Bahamas, heading toward Florida

>> Thursday, October 06, 2016

Today's video:

Hurricane Matthew is strengthening this morning and will likely become a Category 4 hurricane sooner rather than later. The center will likely pass just southwest of Nassau this morning, and then approach the southeast coast of Florida by this evening. From there, Matthew will track northward very near the coast of Florida. For some areas, such as the Space Coast, this could be the strongest hurricane on record to impact that area.

Further north, Matthew will track very close to the Georgia and South Carolina coasts later tomorrow into tomorrow night. How strong Matthew will be at that time will depend largely on how much time the system spends over land in Florida. Due to the system essentially paralleling the coast, that's impossible to determine at this point.

For the interior Carolinas, look for clouds to build later today with rain becoming increasingly likely tonight. I expect rain at times tomorrow and tomorrow night, then a drying trend by Saturday afternoon. Beautiful fall weather will then unfold Sunday onward.

For the Carolinas coast, this will be worse for South Carolina than it will be for North Carolina. Again, how bad it will be will be determined by Matthew's interaction with Florida tomorrow.

Latest on Matthew

>> Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Today's video:

Matthew emerged from eastern Cuba in a somewhat weakened state this morning. However, the system remains a powerful Category 3 hurricane.

Matthew will track NW through much of the Bahamas, and should remain a powerful hurricane while doing so. I maintain that this will be a really rough hurricane for most of the Bahamas.

Through the day Friday, Matthew will track extremely close to the Florida coast, and then at some point, will make a sharp turn to the right. How quickly this easterly turn occurs will determine how bad the impacts are along the Carolina coast.