We have returned to a snooze-and-cruise weather pattern in the tropical Atlantic. We have no tropical cyclones present now, and it’s unlikely that we will see any form over the next week or so.
The above loop of visible satellite imagery above shows several features of interest across the North Atlantic and eastern U. S.:
Tropical waves along 63° west near the Lesser Antilles and along 43° west over the central tropical Atlantic.
A large low-pressure area centered between the African coastline and Cabo Verde, with Saharan dust swirling around it, but little in the way of clouds.
A band of clouds with a stationary front off the East Coast and over Florida.
A storm and trailing front over the nation’s midsection generating thunderstorm clouds.
Conditions remain hostile to development over the Atlantic’s Main Development Region (the area between 10° north and 20° north), with strong vertical shear aloft over most of the region, and most of the region under a dry, stable airmass. Tropical cyclones hate that, so it’s highly unlikely that the tropical waves moving through the region will develop further.
There is one other situation I must address today. I’m sure the model watchers in the audience have taken note of the GFS (the global model run by the National Weather Service) intermittently showing a tropical cyclone form next week over the western subtropical Atlantic (the area between the Tropic of Cancer and 35° north) and becoming a hurricane near our coast late next week and next weekend before curving back out to sea. There isn’t much support from other models, though some have a signal for a weaker storm behaving similarly. Also, the GFS is known for generating what I call ‘boguscanes’; storms that it predicts will form that don’t come to pass. So, it looks unlikely that we’ll have to deal with a storm next weekend, but it’s something we’ll have to monitor.
Stay prepped; hurricane.sc is the place to go for prep advice.
SC Weather Highlights For the Next Week:
The brief stretch of pleasant midsummer weather ends after today; the humidity will increase Saturday. Highs will be in the lower to middle 90s on Saturday.
Showers and thunderstorms will spread over the state Saturday afternoon and night as another cold front moves in.
Sunday looks active with widespread showers and thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon. A locally severe storm with damaging wind is possible. Highs will mainly be in the 80s to around 90.
Parts of the Upstate could see repeated downpours from the front over the weekend. Of course, all rain is welcome due to our drought, but there is a low-end risk for flash flooding across the Upstate, especially northwest of I-85.
The Weather Prediction Center’s Day 2 Excessive Rainfall Outlook for South Carolina, covering Saturday and Saturday night, indicating the potential for isolated flash flooding across the Upstate.
The front will turn stationary over us and then dissipate early next week. The result for us looks like typical summertime weather, highs mainly in the upper 80s to low 90s with scattered afternoon thunderstorms. What’s uncertain is the coverage of diurnal storms, which will depend on the strength of an upper-level trough over this part of the country. A deeper trough would mean more widespread storms and a risk for localized flash flooding for parts of the state. If showers and storms are more widespread, we end up cooler than forecast.
Later next week, we’re likely to see fewer storms and increasing heat, with temperatures near to perhaps a little above average.
Frank Strait Severe Weather Liaison S.C. State Climate Office
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 260 D. Epting Lane West Columbia, SC, 29172
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