Pressures Still High with TD Eight

A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect along the Outer Banks of North Carolina from Cape Lookout to Oregon Inlet including Pamlico sound this Tuesday morning as Tropical Depression Eight inches closer to the coastline. The depression is still weak with pressures continuing to run high, but the forecast is still call for the system to become a tropical storm within 24 to 36 hours.

As of the 8:00 AM EDT Advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Depression Eight was located some 85 miles to the South-Southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The system is presently moving slowly to the North-Northwest at 5 miles per hour. Maximum sustained winds remain at 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 45 miles per hour.

Minimum central pressure with Tropical Depression Eight remains high at 1011 millibars, or 29.86 inches of Hg. As a matter of fact, the pressure really hasn’t changed much over the past 24 hours. Satellite imagery indicates that shower and thunderstorm activity has picked up and become more organized, but Hurricane Hunter aircraft detected that the system remains weak, and thus there is no change in the classification of TD #8.

Interests along the North Carolina coast will need to continue to monitor the situation with Tropical Depression Eight. Already, tropical storm force conditions are expected to commence in the warning area during the afternoon on Tuesday. In addition, the tropical moisture from the depression is forecast to generate rain amounts between one to three inches with isolated areas receiving as much as five inches.

The intensity forecast is calling for TD #8 to peak at 45 mile per hour winds as a tropical system, and 50 mph winds as an extratropical system within the next 72 to 96 hours. The official forecast track from the National Hurricane Center indicates that Tropical Depression Eight will be just off Cape Hatteras as a tropical storm by the early morning on Wednesday.

Then the storm will turn more east-northwestward and accelerate. By early Thursday morning, the storm will be several hundred miles to the east of Cape May, New Jersey. Three days from now, the system will be post tropical some several hundred miles to the east-southeast of the Canadian Maritimes. Portions of the East Coast should be on the lookout for possible rough surf and rip currents during the course of the week.