WOAY-TV (WOAY-TV): As the hurricane season kicks into high gear in the second half of August, there are two primary storm tracks to focus on historically. Those waves that come off the coast of Africa tend to move near or east of Bermuda, but can still bring rough surf to the Carolina coast.
Storms that develop over the Caribbean tend to move into the Gulf of Mexico and make weather headlines along the Gulf Coast. Those tend to stay west of southern West Virginia.
We tend to stay in avoid without any impacts from tropical systems locally. The number of hurricane passages within 150 miles is the greatest south of New and eastern North Carolina coast.
Of course, the Gulf Stream does help energize hurricanes and make them a little bit larger in size as they move closer. So that’s the area that stands the best chance of passage within 150 miles from a storm. As we zoom in a bit closer to the Carolina coast, Onslow and Brunswick, N.C, as well as Charleston, S.C., tend to have the most impact from hurricanes, at least within 110 years of data.
This is the upper level pattern expected later this month. The weakness in that ridge that you see centered across the nation’s midsection is the best chance for impact from a tropical system. That is Florida and the eastern Gulf Coast for any tropical storm or hurricane impact. As we look at the eastern Pacific, there is the big storm that’s going to develop.
It will move within 150 miles of the red area (near the Baja California coast), historically has the best number of hurricanes that come within 150 miles. The Eastern Pacific hurricane later this week is going to draw moisture into the Southwest and will likely increase the flash flooding potential for the Southwest, as well as the Great Basin. That storm will not impact southern West Virginia.
