Hurricane Florence poses an extreme threat to Southeast and Mid-Atlantic [View all]

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: Washington Post

Hurricane Florence is tracking toward the East Coast with invariability rarely seen in storms several days away from landfall. While forecasters were careful to cite “high uncertainty” and “low model confidence” last week, their tone changed after watching the storm’s eventual path barely shift from what they had considered to be the worst-case scenario.

On Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center was forecasting Florence to become a strong Category 4 just prior to making landfall somewhere on the Southeast or Mid-Atlantic coast on Thursday.

With each passing flight into the eye of the storm and every new forecast from the global weather models, it is increasingly unlikely Florence will turn out to sea and spare the Eastern Seaboard from potentially devastating storm surge, flooding and wind. There’s even some indication the hurricane will slow or stall out over the Mid-Atlantic later this week, which could lead to a disastrous amount of rain.

“There is an increasing risk of two life-threatening impacts from Florence: Storm surge at the coast and freshwater flooding from a prolonged heavy rainfall event inland,” the National Hurricane Center wrote Sunday. Storm surge is the rise in ocean water above normally dry land at the coast, which can inundate homes, roads and businesses.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/09/09/florence-strengthens-to-hurricane-and-poses-extreme-threat-to-southeast-and-mid-atlantic/?utm_term=.48c6e0868276