Tropical Storm Humberto forms, another may develop. What it means for Hilton Head
If the start of the hurricane season was a whisper, then it’s now making a comeback. Whether that’s as a roar remains to be seen as meteorologists work to determine how systems in the Atlantic will strengthen and interact in the coming days.
The National Hurricane Center is currently tracking three systems in the basin. Hilton Head should keep an eye on the forecast as a number of factors make it difficult to predict what next week will bring to the island.
There are two systems that could bring impacts to South Carolina in the coming days. Tropical Storm Humberto formed Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning the storm is sitting about 450 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands. As the storm continues to move northwest in the coming days, meteorologists with the National Hurricane Center predict that Humberto will become a hurricane.
Hurricane Gabrielle no longer poses any threat to Beaufort County as it moves West across the Atlantic.
Current forecasts show Humberto will likely continue moving in that direction until turning towards the north early next week. However, there is more uncertainty given how close a tropical wave, currently dubbed AL94, is to the tropical storm. As both these systems begin to move and develop, they’re close enough to each other that they could interact, leading to more uncertainty regarding where the storms will move and how strong they become.
AL94 has a high chance of developing into a cyclone as it nears the Bahamas in the coming days. If the system continues to strengthen, it will be named Imelda.
The wave will continue moving northwest in the coming days, Samantha Trellinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said. Of the three systems the National Hurricane Center is watching, this tropical wave is the most likely to affect South Carolina if and when it develops.
It’s looking increasingly unlikely that AL94 will dissipate. As it continues developing, meteorologists currently predict the storm has equal chances of either making landfall somewhere in Georgia or the Carolinas, turning away from land but moving closer to shore, or remaining far enough from the coast that there’s little impact, Trellinger said. This final scenario would happen if Humberto “absorbs” what becomes of AL94.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty about what will happen on Hilton Head next week. Meteorologists are working to collect more data through Hurricane Hunter flights and other methods, Trellinger said.
