Early tropical storm looms over East Coast
Wind, rain putting commencements at risk in Carolinas
MIAMI — Beachgoers were warned away, emergency officials kept a watchful eye and at least one graduation ceremony was forced indoors as Tropical Storm Ana plodded toward the Carolinas on Saturday in an early heaping of rough weather weeks ahead of the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Ana was centered about 65 miles southeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as of 5 p.m. EDT, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm had top sustained winds of 60 mph but had slowed from its earlier speed, moving northwest at 3 mph, and was forecast to be “very near” the coasts of South and North Carolina sometime Sunday morning.
Universities along the Carolina coastline were monitoring the storm as a possible disruption to weekend commencements. Ceremonies scheduled for Brooks Stadium Saturday at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, were moved indoors out of caution.
In Wilmington, North Carolina, UNC Wilmington held graduation indoors, as planned, but urged students and family to watch weather conditions and make their own determination whether it’s safe to travel.
The North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety announced Saturday that no swimming in the ocean was allowed because of the weather. In New Hanover County, North Carolina, officials cautioned people who were thinking about coming to the beach over the weekend.
“Beachgoers are encouraged to use extreme caution this weekend,” said Warren Lee, Director of New Hanover County Emergency Management. “With the elevated risk of rip currents, the best advice is to stay out of the water when the risk for rip currents is the highest and comply with any advisories given by lifeguards.”
Stacy Stewart, a hurricane specialist at the hurricane center, said dangerous surf and rip tides appear to be the biggest threat posed by the Atlantic season’s first tropical storm though isolated flooding in some coastal areas is also a concern. Although the season doesn’t formally start until June 1, he told The Associated Press such early surprise storms are not all that unusual every few years or so.
“We had a similar situation occur twice back in 2012 when we had two early season tropical storms, Alberto and Beryl,” Stewart noted of two storms that also emerged in the month of May. “That was very unusual to get two storms before the normal start of the hurricane season; one is not that unusual.”
But Ana marked the earliest subtropical or tropical storm to form in the Atlantic since another storm named Ana emerged in 2003, the hurricane center said in an earlier tweet. The Atlantic season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, a period experts consider the most likely for tropical activity in the ocean basin.