National Hurricane Center Provides An Update On Hurricane Erin

Forbes Breaking News

On Monday, National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Michael Brennan provided an update on Hurricane Erin as it passes through the northern Caribbean towards the East Coast of the United States.

Transcript

00:00Hi everybody, this is Mike Brennan here at the National Hurricane Center. It's just after 11 a.m.

00:03Eastern Time on Monday, August 18th, coming on this morning with the latest on still very powerful

00:07Hurricane Aaron located here just to the northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands, about 110 miles

00:14north of Grand Turk, restrengthening this morning to a powerful Category 4 hurricane. Maximum

00:20sustained winds now around 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane is now moving off towards the

00:26west-northwest now at about 10 miles per hour. So while the core of Aaron is remaining

00:30to the east and northeast of the Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas, we're still seeing some impacts

00:35here. We have tropical storm warnings in effect for the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos

00:39Islands, tropical storm watch for the central Bahamas. So there's that risk of tropical storm

00:44conditions as Aaron continues to grow in size. Also the potential for some flooding rainfall,

00:48two to four inches, isolated amounts as high as six inches across portions of those southeastern

00:53Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands as we go through the day today and into Tuesday.

00:57Now if we zoom out a little bit and look at the forecast track of Aaron as we go through the

01:02week, we are still expecting this northwestward motion followed by a turn to the north as we go

01:07through Tuesday and Wednesday, and then an acceleration taking the center of Aaron northeastward

01:12out into the North Atlantic as we go from Thursday into Thursday night and Friday. And while the forecast

01:17track of Aaron still has the center of the storm remaining between the North Carolina Outer Banks and

01:21Bermuda as we go from Wednesday into Thursday morning, the track has shifted westward since

01:26yesterday, which will bring a more enhanced risk of some of those peripheral impacts into portions of

01:32the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But again, Aaron is expected to grow rather dramatically in size.

01:38If you look at the wave height field forecast as we get into Wednesday night and Thursday morning,

01:43these dark colors here are significant wave heights in excess of 20 to 30 feet, even exceeding 50 feet

01:49near the center of Aaron. So this is going to make for very dangerous marine conditions across all of

01:53the western Atlantic and increase the risk for dangerous and life-threatening surf and rip current

01:58conditions across almost the entire U.S. east coast. And by tomorrow, everywhere you see in red here,

02:04so basically from South Florida through Georgia, North and South Carolina, up into the mid-Atlantic states,

02:09southern New England with a high risk of life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. So these are going to be

02:14situations where you're not going to want to be in the ocean and you're going to want to heed any

02:18precautions given by your local officials. Pay attention to any beach warning flags. And these

02:23dangerous surf conditions are going to continue throughout much of the upcoming week. So it's

02:27just not going to be a very safe environment to be in the ocean. And just a reminder again, even

02:32though the weather can be nice at the coast, it can still have dangerous surf and rip current

02:36conditions from a hurricane that's well offshore like we're going to see with Aaron. So never assume

02:40the ocean is safe even if the weather is nice. And please go to weather.gov slash beach for the

02:45latest information on those surf and rip current conditions. As we back up and want to zoom in

02:50here, this is a slide from the National Weather Service office in Moorhead City, North Carolina,

02:54showing some of the highest impacts we're expecting to see from Aaron here along the North Carolina

02:59Outer Banks. So where we're going to see significant, that wave action is going to cause significant

03:04surf zone roughness, beach erosion, ocean overwash, especially along portions of North Carolina,

03:11Highway 12 out here in the Outer Banks. So this area between Ocracoke up to Oregon Inlet is where

03:16we're expecting to see some of the most dangerous conditions along the oceanfront. And evacuations

03:21have been ordered for Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island in North Carolina. So please see more

03:26information from your local emergency and government officials in these areas. Heed those evacuation

03:30orders if you've been asked to leave. And again, you can always get more information from your local

03:34National Weather Service office at weather.gov. Now, I did mention the track moving a little closer to

03:39North Carolina, and that is bringing that risk of tropical storm conditions to the Outer Banks by

03:45late Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday evening. So we could see a tropical storm and storm surge watch

03:51issued for portions of the North Carolina Outer Banks as soon as later today or tonight. And there

03:55is also a risk of tropical storm conditions on Bermuda as we get from Wednesday night into Thursday

04:01morning, again, with the large size of air and even with the core of the storm passing well to the

04:05north. We could see some impacts there. So as we wrap up here on this Monday morning, here are those

04:10key messages on Aaron. We're going to continue to see heavy rainfall through today over portions of

04:15Hispaniola and through Tuesday for the Turks and Caicos and portions of the Bahamas could produce some

04:20flash and urban flooding are possible in those areas. Tropical storm conditions expected in those

04:25tropical storm warning areas in the Turks and Caicos and southeastern Bahamas today with tropical storm

04:30conditions possible in the central Bahamas as we go from later today into Tuesday in that watch area.

04:36Aaron's expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip current conditions across much of the

04:40western Atlantic basin, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the U.S. East Coast, up into Atlantic Canada. An interest in the

04:45Outer Banks of North Carolina and Bermuda could see some more direct impacts from Aaron as we get into

04:50the middle portions of the week. We could see tropical storm conditions and coastal flooding possible

04:54along portions of the North Carolina Outer Banks beginning in the next day or so and continuing into

05:00Wednesday. So please stay tuned for more information on Aaron here. Come back to us at the National

05:04Hurricane Center at hurricanes.gov. Thanks for joining us. I'm Mike Brennan.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended