Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Devastation in Bahamas
Storm moving away from South Florida
South Floridians emerged from all hurricane warnings and watches Tuesday evening as Florida’s central Atlantic coast began to take a lashing from Hurricane Dorian, according to a 9 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center.
As a weakened Hurricane Dorian headed northwest, the threat to South Florida diminished to a few hours of blustery weather.
South Florida can expect rain bands and squalls capable of creating tropical-storm gusts to blow through and dissipate by daybreak Wednesday, National Weather Service forecasters said. As the
weekend nears, South Floridians can expect showers, sun and temperatures in the 90s, forecasters said.
The hurricane’s forward speed accelerated to 6 mph Tuesday afternoon as it pursued a course projected to parallel the southeastern U.S. coast, leaving open the possibility of landfall in Georgia or the Carolinas. The storm was producing top winds of 110 mph, putting it at the upper end of Category 2 strength. By 9 p.m. Tuesday, it was 105 miles east of Melbourne.
Earlier Tuesday, the hurricane warning that extended from Jupiter Inlet north to Sebastian Inlet was downgraded to a tropical storm warning.
Likewise, evacuation orders for Palm Beach County also were lifted. Residents had been ordered out of coastal neighborhoods, which included President Donald Trump’s Mar-aLago club, as well as low-lying areas, when South Florida had been in the cone of possible paths for the storm center.
The hurricane watch for Palm Beach County was canceled late Tuesday morning, as Hurricane Dorian weakened to Category 2 force and started on its long-awaited turn to the north.
Also canceled was a tropical storm watch for Broward County. As the hurricane moved away, South Florida began a return to normalcy: Schools will open Thursday in Palm Beach County. Broward and MiamiDade schools are opening Wednesday.
Even though the entire Florida coast now lies outside the cone of possible courses for the storm’s center, forecasters warn that a minor shift in direction still could subject parts of the state to hurricane-force winds.
Dorian is expected to speed up Tuesday night and a turn northward is forecast by Wednesday evening with a turn toward the north-northeast expected by Thursday morning, according to NHC’s most recent advisory.
“On this track, the core of Hurricane Dorian will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast tonight through Wednesday night,” the center’s hurricane specialist Daniel Brown said at 5 p.m.
Dorian could make landfall over the coastal Carolinas Thursday through Friday morning, he said.
Although Dorian’s power is dwindling it is expected to remain a powerful hurricane for the next couple of days, forecasters said.
Dorian’s windfield has grown with tropical storm-force winds extending out to 175 miles from the hurricane’s core. Its hurricane-force winds are blowing up to 60 miles from the center, according to a Tuesday evening update.
After stalling over the Bahamas and subjecting the islands to a ferocious assault, the storm started to inch northwest about 7:30 a.m. at 1 mph, finally pulling away from the Bahamas and reducing the threat to South Florida.
“The storm is now moving northwest ... after being stationary for more than 24 hours, which is good news for everyone actually,” said Robert Molleda, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Miami, said earlier in the afternoon.
Ken Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, said the resumption of the storm’s forward movement appeared to be the start of the turn north, a long-awaited action that could finally take parts of the Florida coast out of danger.
“What that’s probably starting to show is what our forecasts have been calling for for days and days and days, which is to make that move to the north,” he said.
The storm’s hazards for the Bahamas included wind gusts of up to 150 mph, a storm surge 10 to 15 feet above normal with higher, destructive waves and extreme flooding from up to 30 inches of rain.
Although the official forecast does not show Dorian making landfall along Florida’s east coast, the hurricane center is reminding residents and visitors that “a relatively small deviation to the left of this track could bring the core of the hurricane near or over the coastline.”