Tropical threat brewing along the Carolina coast

AccuWeather

Conditions are worsening in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, with strong winds, rain and lightning. AccuWeather's Tony Laubach was reporting live from this mid-September storm.

Transcript

00:00We have crews all along the Carolina coast working to bring you the latest on this mid-September storm.

00:05Yeah, the whole team's here and we begin our coverage right now with meteorologist Tony Laubach.

00:11Tony, good morning to you. You've been outside in just what's been kind of a yucky

00:15start to the day and have you seen any people yet? I know you were saying you know someone's

00:20going to be running on by. Yeah, the only people I've seen have been as well dressed as I have.

00:29They've been city crews. In fact, if you remember this view not too long ago there used to be a

00:33garbage can there. They're actually getting some of the loose garbage cans battened down here as

00:38we've started to actually see a little increase in the winds here. This is actually I would say

00:42the worst I've seen it so far this morning. The wind has been more constant. We haven't really

00:47been dealing with much in the way of the gust but more of the steady breeze 20 to 25 miles an hour.

00:52Again, we're not talking outrageous things but just enough to where we are seeing that deterioration

00:58in conditions. We had a pretty heavy rain band roll through earlier. Actually heard some

01:02thunderstorms, some lightning with that one. So we're getting bands that are coming through and

01:06with those bands that's when we kind of see the uptick and the squalliness. Uptick in the wind,

01:11uptick in the rain and that is going to be something I think we're going to start to see

01:14more of as we go through the morning hours. We do have a couple of areas offshore. In fact,

01:20I'm going to start to make my way south after I get done with you guys here to get myself down in

01:25position here because I think what's coming on shore right now is going to start to bring that

01:29first potential for that tornadic threat that we're going to see with this. I think that's

01:33going to be something we're going to be dealing with pretty much all day. I've been watching the

01:36radar offshore and been seeing some really suspicious areas of rotation indicating that

01:42some of these cells out over the waters right now could be producing water spouts. As that moves on

01:46shore we go from water spouts to tornadoes and that is certainly going to be one of the biggest

01:50threats with this I do believe because that I think is going to pose the most damage potential

01:55in terms of the wind because again I don't think we're going to see a ton in the way of wind.

01:59Probably enough to knock down some small limbs. Those limbs get into power lines. We start to

02:03see power issues. That's going to be the extent of where I think the wind is going to be. I think

02:07we're going to be talking about street flooding as a big threat that onshore wind is going to

02:12bring the potential for surge and flooding along the shorelines as well. Pretty much all up and

02:16down the Carolina coast. North Carolina down to South Carolina. We're going to have Aaron J Jack

02:21down in Myrtle Beach. Me in Wilmington. We're going to have Allie north of me. We're going to

02:24have this whole area covered and I do think we are going to see a wide range of impacts in a wide

02:31range of areas. I'm kind of sitting in the middle of those two areas again putting myself on the

02:36north side of where we expect this to be landfall because I do believe for at least in terms of what

02:41I'm going to be watching for today is going to be that tornado threat. That is what I'm more

02:45concerned with in the near term especially as those cells start to work their way closer on

02:50shore. So areas south of Wilmington to around Myrtle Beach. Those are the areas right now if

02:54you're getting up with us this morning. I know you're not really thinking about tornadoes first

02:58thing on a Monday morning but that is something I do have concerns about for the near term and

03:02again we're not talking strong tornadoes but if they touch down in a populated area they can

03:07create a mess and certainly be dangerous. So folks don't let your guard down. Have that AccuWeather

03:11app on because that's going to, oh that was a lightning strike, yeah see we've got lightning in

03:15the area too. So again we're talking about these convective bands so we do have storms embedded

03:20within these outer eyes and that is going to bring that heightened threat for those heavy rains and

03:25that tornado potential. Right now not seeing much in the way of tornado potential but again we're

03:29going to get start to get those heavier rain bands again. All of what I've been seeing this morning

03:34has been very spaced out in terms of the heavier impactful stuff. The heavier rains, the stronger

03:39winds but as we get closer to landfall, as the storm moves closer to the shore, we're going to

03:45see the time difference really start to thin out a little bit here. So I think we're going to see

03:49more constant effects of more of the, we go beyond nuisance probably to more hazardous type stuff

03:56and again we've got folks, we're seeing the increase in traffic as folks are making their

04:00way out. A lot of businesses still open today. I've seen a few folks in the area here opening

04:04some of the shops nearby doing some of the things. You can hear the thunder now. You can't because I

04:08got an noise cancelling mic but I can hear the thunder. So we are seeing that again. We're getting

04:13wind gusts that are probably in the 30 to 35 mile per hour range with that heavy rain but again I

04:18think in the near term as those cells start to move on shore from Wilmington point south, I think those

04:23are going to be the areas that we're going to be watching for tornadic development. So I'm going to

04:27go ahead and pack up here. I think I'm going to start to work my way south so when you hear from

04:30me next I will be on the road. So producers back at home take a note. We're going to be mobile here

04:35momentarily because we're going to head down south and we're going to get ourselves in position

04:39to watch those cells come on shore. Tony, we got four more minutes. You want to take the rest of this block?

04:46You want the rest of this block? I can take the rest of this block. He could definitely do it. Yes

04:51for sure. All right, meteorologist storm chaser Tony Laubach, careful on the roads. We'll check in with you

04:55in a little bit. Liz, I think the big takeaway I got that he said most people on a Monday morning

04:59don't wake up and think about tornadoes but I bet Tony his alarm clock is probably a tornado

05:03siren. It just gets him out of bed. That would make sense. You can tell though his passion for

05:08the weather. I think it really comes across there and he finds as a tornado chaser and seeker

05:15a little ways to make himself happy in tropical systems.

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