Helene is gone, but the tropics remain active with two areas of interest being monitored for development by the National Hurricane Center. Before we discuss what’s next in the tropics, here’s a quick recap of measured wind gusts across Southeast Georgia and the Lowcountry from Helene.
The highest gust of 100mph occurred in Alma which is located in Bacon County. This is also the highest wind gust measured in Alma since weather records have been kept. In Savannah at the Savannah-Hilton Head Airport there was a peak gust of 76mph!
Tybee Island and Hilton Head Island both saw wind gusts around 70mph. Helene produced lots of tree damage in our area and also widespread power outages.
In the Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Isaac is tracking to the east and will remain far away from the United States. Tropical Storm Joyce is also forecast to be a ‘fish storm’ and stay away from land.
Two areas of interest have medium to low chances for tropical development over the next 7 days. The area to monitor is forecast to track from the western Caribbean to the Gulf of Mexico. As new data arrives over the next several days I’ll keep a close eye on the potential for this to become a named storm. Obviously once a storm is in the Gulf, it really has no place to escape until it makes a landfall…