GREENSBORO, N.C. — We've had quite the busy Atlantic Hurricane season so far in 2024. We're coming up on 12 named storms as of early October, with a little under two months until the official end of the season. The date to keep in mind is November 30th; though, that's not a say a storm or two couldn't form after this date.
11 named storms, more to come
Remember, earlier in the year we predicted that we'd have an overall above-average hurricane season. NOAA predicted between 17-25 names storms with 8-13 becoming hurricanes and 4-7 becoming major hurricanes (Category 3+).
Notable Storms for NC
Hurricane Debby
Debby made it's first landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Steinhatchee in Florida's Big bend before moving along the East Coast. After moving back over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina, Tropical Storm Debby made a second landfall near Bulls Bay, SC. It weakened into a tropical depression as it moved just east of Charlotte, NC. Debbie dropped 3.91" of rain on August 8th, making it the wettest day we've had in over four years since Hurricane Michael in 2018.
P.T.C. #8
Potential Tropical Cyclone #8 was a great example of impacts of the storm meaning more than the name or category rating. PTC #8 never truly became tropical, therefore it never was granted a tropical name. Despite this, impacts including widespread heavy rain and flash flooding, coastal flooding, and breezy conditions especially for southeastern NC where over 20 inches of rain fell in a span of just a few days!
Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a strong Category 4 storm September 26th. It moved very quickly across the Deep South and into the southern Appalachians, causing catastrophic flooding, landslides & mudslides for the NC mountains that received over 30" in the span of a couple days. Hurricane Helene will be written in history books for its impacts on western NC, who will be recovering for months to come.
So far, we've had 11 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. We're right on track and we still have a few months to go.
Latest Tropical Outlook
As for where we stand with the tropics now, here's the latest forecast:
As of October 2nd in the 2pm advisory, we have Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Depression Thirteen both in the central Atlantic. Neither are threats to the United States for now, but we'll continue to monitor both of them the next several days.
Elsewhere in the tropics, there's a system with medium odds of development over the next 7 days in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. It's possible that there could be a new tropical depression or tropical storm form in this area by the weekend or early next week.
As of right now, if a storm were to form it's unlikely to be a threat to the Carolinas. The steering winds will be different than they were this past week. This time, any storm that forms that way would have a harder time getting north and would more likely move to the east passing to our south.
Regardless, we'll keep you posted with the latest details.