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Hurricane “Maria” forces tropical storm and storm surge watches for North Carolina

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A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the coast of North Carolina from Surf City northward to the North Carolina/Virginia border, including the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds at 21:00 UTC (17:00 EDT) on Sunday, September 24, 2017. At the same time, a Storm Surge Watch has been issued for the coast of North Carolina from Cape Lookout northward to Duck.

At 06:00 UTC (02:00 EDT) on Monday, September 25, the center of Hurricane "Maria" was located 610 km (380 miles) SSE of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The system is moving north at 11 km/h (7 mph) with maximum sustained winds of 135 km/h (85 mph), making Maria a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

The minimum central pressure recently reported by the Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 954 hPa. On September 24, Maria's pressure dropped to 941 hPa. This is the lowest pressure for an Atlantic hurricane with maximum sustained winds less and equal to 168 km/h (105 mph) since Hurricane "Sandy" of 2012, according to Dr. Philip Klotzbach. "Low pressure relative to that what would be expected given the max winds observed means that the storm is generally large in size."

Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Lee at 08:30 UTC on September 25, 2017

Hurricane "Maria" and Hurricane "Lee" at 08:30 UTC on September 25, 2017. Credit: NOAA/GOES-16 (preliminary and non-operational)

On the current forecast track, the core of Hurricane "Maria" will move well east of the southeast coast of the United States during the next day or so. 

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 95 km (60 miles) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 370 km (230 miles).

Hurricane Maria forecast track by NHC at 06:00 UTC on September 25, 2017

Tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area beginning Tuesday, September 26.

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water is expected to reach the following heights above ground if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide:

Cape Lookout to Duck including the sound side of the Outer Banks: 0.6 – 1.2 m (2 – 4 feet).

Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle and can vary greatly over short distances. 

Swells generated by Maria are increasing along portions of the southeastern United States coast and Bermuda and will be increasing along the Mid-Atlantic coast tonight and Monday (local time). Swell also continue to affect Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the northern coast of Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas.

These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Featured image: Hurricane "Maria" at 08:30 UTC on September 25, 2017. Credit: NOAA/GOES-16 (preliminary and non-operational)

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3 Comments

  1. News reports say that category 5 hurricane Maria devastated Dominica island on 18 September 2017 and has also devastated other islands like Peurto Rico during forward passage in the Caribbean. In order to enable the astrologically identified countries or regions vulnerable to natural catastrophic happenings like hurricanes , storms and floods during August- September which could probably extend as far as 10 October in 2017 ( 25 September to 2 October 2017 could be of more major concern) to take recourse to more care and appropriate strategy , the following alerts were made by this Vedic astrology writer :-
    (1). Such like one or more places in US as Miami , Tampa , Maine , Massachusets , Missouri , Tennessee or Texas were indicated as vulnerable within the aforesaid meaning, through article – “ Astrological probable alerts for US in 1017” – published in December 2016 issue of wisdom-magazine.com from US.
    (2). Through emails to nearly one hundred newspapers and media on 18 April 2017 across the globe , Dominica and Dominican Republic in the Caribbean were also included for similar alerts as aforesaid.
    (3) In article – “ Is World War III around the corner ?” – published in Summer ( April- June) 2017 issue of The Astrologer’s Notebook from North Port , Florida , the following alert was indicated. While saying that in August- September in 2017 , “sea would play a significant role in war , huge storms , tornadoes and floods in vulnerable countries could trend to cause untold miseries”.
    Going by related happenings during gone-by period of said alerts so far , it can be understood that the alerts , made several months prior , may have been meaningful , whatsoever small.

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