Isolated but intense thunderstorms formed across portions of coastal eastern North Carolina Friday afternoon 7 / 24.  The most intense storms produced:

- golf ball to baseball size hail pounded Pantego and Pungo around 3:00.
- heavy rainfall of 2 - 4” drenched the Jacksonville area.  Around Camp Lejeune, winds damaged tree limbs and hail up to 1” in diameter fell just before 2:00.
- severe wind damage to trees and playgrounds occurred near Blounts Creek around 1:45.
- moderate rainfall reached the Carteret County wild fire scene.
- golf ball size hail fell at Wallace around 1:20pm.

Additional thunderstorms produced hail and drenching rain on the Coastal Plain Saturday evening 7 / 25:

- Flash flooding closed numerous roads in northern Wayne County.
- Multiple waves of .75” diameter hail (penny size) hit Fremont.
- Additional penny size hail reports came from Black Creek, Lucama and Wilson.
- Thunderstorm winds downed a tree on Blaylock Road in Wilson County.

Thanks for staying with Storm Team 9 through the stormy pattern!

Lazy summer showers often produce waterspouts - or rotating columns of air - across the marshlands, sounds, and Atlantic waters adjacent to Eastern Carolina’s land areas.  Several waterspouts were sighted across coastal Carteret County and the waters near the Outer Banks Monday 7 / 20 and Tuesday 7 / 21.  Waterspouts:

- usually feature winds less than 80mph (consistent with the rotating winds of an EF0 tornado).
- can capsize boats.
- can be as dangerous as a weak tornado if they go onto affect small portions of coastal lands.
- usually dissipate quickly upon impacting land and tend to do only minimal / extremely localized damage to trees / loose objects.

NC Hurricane Awareness Week continues Friday 5 / 26 with the topic of hurricane preparedness.

Fact: Most residents are not asked to evacuate in an impending hurricane situation. 

Fact: The best way to ensure you / your family’s safety is to:

- create a simple family plan.
- create a disaster supply kit.
- secure your home.

LINK: The National Weather Service has great advice on how to do all three.  CLICK HERE for the information.

The National Hurricane Center is charged with issuing official hurricane and tropical storm forecast products (including watches, warnings, etc.).  Here at Storm Team 9, we provide additional analysis on tropical storms.  Forecasting tropical cyclones requires different tools and skills than forecasting for mid-latitude storm systems.

CLICK HERE for more details on the fascinating science of tropical weather analysis and forecasting.

NC Hurricane Awareness Week continues Wednesday 5 / 27 with the topic of inland flooding.  Of the 56 people who perished in Hurricane Floyd, 50 died in inland freshwater flooding incidents (and most of those victims were in cars attempting to drive over water-covered roads).  Remember: “Turn around, don’t drown!“ when you come upon a water-covered road.  Find a safe, alternate route.

CLICK HERE for a full report on inland flooding from the National Weather Service.

CLICK HERE for the National Weather Service’s “Turn around, don’t drown” information page.

NC Hurricane Awareness Week continues Tuesday 5 / 26 with the topic of hurricane winds.  Recall the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale breaks hurricanes into 5 categories (according to their wind speeds):

- Cat. 1 = winds 74 - 95mph
- Cat. 2 = winds 96 - 110mph
- Cat. 3 = winds 111 - 130mph
- Cat. 4 = winds 131 - 155mph
- Cat. 5 = catestrophic winds higher than 155mph

Empower yourself and your family with knowledge (or refresh your knowledge) on how to prepare for hurricane winds.  CLICK HERE for a message from the National Weather Service.

CLICK HERE for a list of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season storm names.

Also, since the 2009 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season officially begins in just over one week (June 1), be sure to frequent Storm Team 9’s online Hurricane Center (CLICK HERE).

Straight-line winds, torrential rain and storm surge may be the first threats you associate with tropical storms and hurricanes - but don’t forget tornadoes!  Tornadoes are a common threat among almost any tropical cyclone (or even remnant tropical system) that approaches NC from the south.  Tropical twisters are particularly dangerous as they can, with little or no advance warning, spin up and move with the fast-moving outer “spiral” rain bands of tropical storm systems.  A tropical storm system’s tornado threat can precede the threats of straight-line winds, torrential rain, and storm surge by many hours.

CLICK HERE for a National Weather Service summary of the dangers of tornadoes in tropical cyclones.

CLICK HERE for a list of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season storm names.

Also, since the 2009 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season officially begins in just over one week (June 1), be sure to frequent Storm Team 9’s online Hurricane Center (CLICK HERE).

Since 1886, over 1000 tropical systems have formed in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico and nearly 20 percent of all of those tropical systems passed within at least 300 miles of North Carolina!  In four of the last ten hurricane seasons, two or more tropical storms / hurricanes directly hit North Carolina:

- 1999 (Dennis and Floyd)
- 2004 (Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Gaston, Jeanne, and Ivan)
- 2006 (Alberto and Ernesto)
- 2008 (Cristobal and Hanna)

For a full North Carolina hurricane history summary, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE for a list of the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane Season storm names.

Also, since the 2009 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season officially begins in just over one week (June 1), be sure to frequent Storm Team 9’s online Hurricane Center (CLICK HERE).

National Weather Service confirmation summaries from the Tuesday 5 / 5 tornadoes in Eastern Carolina are as follows:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
945 AM EDT WED MAY 6 2009

...TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR CHICOD NC ON MAY 5…

LOCATION…INTERSECTION OF GROVER SMITH ROAD AND HIGHWAY 43 SOUTH
ESTIMATED TIME…AROUND 530 PM EDT
EF-SCALE RATING…EF-1
ESTIMATED WIND SPEED…105-110 MPH
PATH WIDTH…100 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…AROUND A 1/2 MILE LONG
INJURIES…NONE
FATALITIES…NONE
DAMAGE ESTIMATE…$50,000

...SUMMARY…

BASED ON A STORM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
THIS MORNING ...AN EF1 TORNADO (105-110 MPH) WAS CONFIRMED TO HAVE
BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN IN CHICOD IN PITT COUNTY AROUND 530 PM TUESDAY.
THE TORNADO RIPPED THE ROOF OFF OF A HOUSE…DAMAGED SEVERAL
OUTBUILDINGS AND MOVED AN AUTOMOBILE AROUND 20 YARDS. TOTAL DAMAGE
ESTIMATED BY PITT COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WAS AROUND $50,000.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEWPORT/MOREHEAD CITY NC
1240 PM EDT WED MAY 6 2009

...TORNADO CONFIRMED NEAR MOSS HILL NC ON MAY 5…

LOCATION…OFF HIGHWAY 11 SOUTH 1 MILE DOWN BLAND HOLLAND ROAD
(ROUTE 1156)AT K+M FARMS
ESTIMATED TIME…AROUND 405 PM EDT
EF-SCALE RATING…EF-0
ESTIMATED WIND SPEED…80-85 MPH
PATH WIDTH…100 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…25 TO 50 YARDS
INJURIES…NONE
FATALITIES…NONE
DAMAGE ESTIMATE…NONE AVAILABLE

...SUMMARY…

BASED ON A STORM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
THIS MORNING ...AN EF0 TORNADO (80-85 MPH) WAS CONFIRMED TO HAVE
BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN AT K+M FARMS OFF BLAND HOLLAND ROAD JUST
NORTHEAST OF MOSS HILL IN SOUTHERN LENOIR COUNTY AROUND 405 PM EDT.
3 TIN ROOFS WERE PEELED OFF OF TURKEY BARNS. NO DAMAGE ESTIMATE WAS
AVAILABLE.

Stay with Storm Team 9 for updated forecasts and severe weather information.  CLICK HERE for more state-wide damage surveys from tornadoes (including an EF2 twister confirmed from Tuesday).

Scattered downpours produced decent localized rainfall in Eastern North Carolina between Friday 5 / 1 and Sunday 5 / 3, but many spots missed the heaviest showers.  Here are some 5 / 1 - 3 rain totals:

- New Bern: 0.35”
- Morehead City: 0.28”
- Jacksonville: 0.06”
- Washington: 0.06”
- Greenville: 0.02”

Huge rains fell - along a stalled front - from the Mid-Atlantic Region through the Lower MS Val.  CLICK HERE for the impressively soggy details.

CLICK TO WEATHER for updated rain chance forecasts and to view Live VIPIR 9 Radar.