Forecasters eye two more tropical waves as Hilton Head avoids Hurricane Gabrielle’s impact
After an unsteady start, Gabrielle strengthened into a hurricane Sunday. As it turns east into the Atlantic, the Category 3 hurricane is not expected to affect Hilton Head in the coming days.
Meteorologists with the National Hurricane Center expect the second named storm of the Atlantic season to strengthen further today as it moves over warmer water. The storm will not make landfall on the East Coast, though its swells are reaching the shores north of North Carolina. These areas should see rough surf and rip currents in the coming days.
After an unusually quiet period at the beginning of September, the Atlantic hurricane season does appear to be heating up. In addition to Gabrielle, there are two tropical waves that the National Hurricane Center is monitoring in the coming days.
One such tropical wave has a 70% chance of cyclone formation in the coming week. As conditions for cyclone development improve over the Atlantic, meteorologists expect the system to develop into a tropical depression later this week.
Another tropical wave has a 40% chance of developing into a tropical depression in the coming week, though at the moment it’s just producing showers and thunderstorms. The National Hurricane Center said that it could form a tropical depression near the end of the week.
The exact track of these storms and their effects on Hilton Head are still unclear.
