Resilient Bonnie Re-Emerges and Re-Intensifies into Tropical Storm

Storm Now Moving East Away from Land and Expected to Weaken

After making landfall in South Carolina as a depression and eventually dissipating into a remnant low while moving offshore, many including myself thought that was the last we would see of Bonnie. However, the second named storm of the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season, would prove us wrong with a resiliency that not only had it regenerate into a depression, but also re-intensify into a tropical storm.

Bonnie’s remains meandered around the Mid-Atlantic for a few days and then a day after the official start of the season, was reclassified as a tropical depression only a few miles off of Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The depression brought rough surf and heavy rains ranging between one and three inches with isolated areas getting up to five inches. Roads along the Outer Banks were washed out by the combination of surf and heavy rain.

While all of this was occurring on land, Bonnie continued to get better organized and energized off the coast. For 30 hours, Bonnie remained a depression until the late afternoon on Friday when the National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded the depression to a minimal tropical storm with 40 mph winds. Barometric pressure had dropped to 1006 millibars, or 29.71 inches of Hg. Within six hours at the 11:00 PM EDT Advisory on June 3rd, forecasts were calling for Bonnie to become a remnant low on Saturday.

Since becoming a tropical storm again, Bonnie has flatlined in terms of its intensity. The storm has not strengthened any further over the past 12 hours and remains very minimal with 40 mph winds and a pressure of 1006 millibars. In addition, the storm has been moving east and away from land. According to the 5:00 AM EDT early morning advisory on Saturday from the NHC, Bonnie is expected to continue moving east and pick up in forward speed as it falls under the influence of zonal flow in the jet stream over the Eastern U.S. The forecast is also calling for weakening to begin and it becoming a remnant low later on Saturday.

The storm is also no longer expected to affect any land areas. So now, attention should begin to shift to the disturbance in the Caribbean, which could bring a lot of wet weather to Florida and the Southeast.