Susan Miller, USA TODAY
Published 11:04 a.m. ET May 17, 2020
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Florida is making plans to deal with sheltering and evacuations if COVID-19 lingers into the upcoming hurricane season.
Accuweather
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is two weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped an early- bird system from menacing the North Carolina coast Sunday.
Tropical Storm Arthur, which formed off Florida on Saturday, was expected to strengthen and whip the Outer Banks with rain and gusty winds overnight into Monday, the National Weather Service said. Eastern portions of the state should brace for localized flooding and hazardous marine conditions, forecasters said.
A tropical storm warning – meaning 40 mph or greater winds were expected somewhere in the warning area within the next 24 to 36 hours – was issued for portions of the Outer Banks from Surf City to Duck, including Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, according to the National Hurricane Center.
What’s in a name?: From Arthur to Wilfred, here’s the list of hurricane names for the 2020 season
“Minor inundation from storm surge is possible for very low-lying areas adjacent to the ocean, sounds, and rivers, with overwash of dunes and flooding of properties and roadways possible for locations where dune structures are weak,” mainly north of Cape Lookout, the National Weather Service said.
Arthur was centered about 300 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras and was moving at 9 mph to the north-northeast Sunday morning, the hurricane center said.
Storm forms off Florida coast: Tropical Storm Arthur forms off Florida, becoming the first named storm of the season
“There is a still the possibility that Arthur makes landfall where the barrier islands jut out near Cape Hatteras,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff said.
Arthur’s preseason appearance isn’t that unusual, making 2020 the sixth consecutive year with a named storm in May – which is before the season’s official start date of June 1.
Most of the May storms have been weak and uneventful. Tropical Storm Alberto in 2018 was a deadly exception, hitting 65-mph winds and killing 18 people in Cuba and the U.S.
Arthur was expected to intensify as it moved northeastward away from the East Coast early this week. The National Hurricane Center said the storm would transition into a non-tropical low pressure system, but not before stirring up dangerous coastal surf conditions and rip currents from Florida through the Mid-Atlantic.
Should hurricane season start earlier? Arthur would be yet another early tropical storm: Does hurricane season officially start too late?
Some bands of rain and gusty winds could reach as far north as the Virginia Tidewater and the Delmarva Peninsula on Monday, the Weather Channel said.
Forecasters are predicting an active hurricane season this year.
Meteorologist Phil Klotzbach and other experts from Colorado State University – among the nation’s top seasonal hurricane forecasters – predict 16 named tropical storms will form, eight of which will become hurricanes.
An average season has 12 tropical storms, six of which are hurricanes. In 2019, there were 18 named storms, six of which were hurricanes.
Contributing: Doyle Rice; The Associated Press
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