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.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.