Not a tropical storm off U.S. coast, forecasters say
An area of disturbed weather off the coast of the Carolinas sure looks like a tropical system.
But the National Hurricane Center said it isn’t, and there’s zero chance that it could get a name.
Name or no name, it’s expected to bring rain and gusty winds to coastal areas of the Southeastern U.S. over the Memorial Day weekend.
While it looks a lot like it could be a tropical system, the hurricane center said that as of Saturday afternoon it was a non-tropical area of low pressure that was located about 80 miles south of Charleston, S.C.
The hurricane center said one of the reasons it’s not expected to become a tropical system is that it was entangled with a frontal system. It’s expected to remain a part of the frontal system as it moves northward and then inland over the Carolinas tonight or on Sunday.
The National Weather Service echoed those thoughts as well:
Forecasters said it had a zero percent probability of becoming a subtropical or tropical system.
However, it could cause some of the same weather — heavy rain, gusty winds and dangerous seas — along the coast through Sunday.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins next Thursday, June 1. NOAA released its hurricane outlook this week and said a near-normal season is expected in 2023 — as far as the number of storms goes.
NOAA’s outlook suggests there could be 12-17 named storms (that includes tropical storms and hurricanes), five to nine hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger storms).
According to NOAA an average season in the Atlantic basin has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.