GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – Lee’s projected track has stayed largely unchanged over the past several days. Forecast models continue to keep the center of the storm about 400 miles off Cape Hatteras from Thursday into Friday. Rip current threats for all area beaches are already high and will remain so through the rest of the week. A High Surf Advisory is in effect until 6:00 p.m. and Coastal Flood Advisory until 8:00 p.m. Friday for areas along and near the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast. Parts of the Outer Banks could see ocean overwash and minor coastal flooding with strong sustained north winds Thursday and Friday. Sustained winds could get as high as 30-35 mph across the Outer Banks.
As of the 11 p.m. update, Lee remains a category 2 hurricane. Maximum sustained winds are holding at 105 MPH and gusts up to 125 MPH as Lee heads to the north at 9 mph. Impacts from Lee will be felt along the coast only, similar to what we saw with Hurricane Franklin earlier in the season. Beaches will continue to see high surf and high rip current threats, but the rain and wind will be too far offshore to have any noticeable effect on Eastern NC.
If you are planning to travel to the Crystal Coast or Outer Banks this week, please avoid the water. Rip currents are narrow channels of water, that flow away from the main shoreline. If you are caught in a rip current, it is important to remain calm and swim parallel to shore. Never swim against a rip current!
Margot remains a category 1 storm and is forecast to weaken back to a tropical storm by the end of the week. The storm has winds at 85 MPH and is moving to the north at 7 MPH. The hurricane will head slowly northward over the next few days before doing a quick loop Friday-Saturday. The loop will keep Margot centered over the Atlantic. It will have no impact on the U.S.
As for the other area we’re watching, we’re close to having Nigel. Chances of development are at 80% within the next two days and then 90% in the next week. While worth watching, we’re expecting this system to curve back out in the Atlantic with no impacts to the US.
Stay with WITN and WITN.COM as we track the remaining name storms this hurricane season.