By Dr Jeff Masters From Weather Underground

Hurricane Dorian steamed north-northwestward about 80 – 100 miles from the Florida coast Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The hurricane brought sustained tropical storm-force winds and damaging storm surge flooding to several locations along the Florida coast, but Floridians can breathe a sigh of relief that they missed the full wrath of Dorian. Damage in Florida from Dorian would appear to be far lower than the multi-billion dollar price tag of Hurricane Matthew of 2016.

As of 6:36 am EDT Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida reportednumerous gusts from Dorian in excess of 39 mph (tropical storm force). The highest gust at a land-based station was 70 mph at an elevated tower at Cape Canaveral. Here are some of the tropical storm-force gusts reported so far in Dorian by ground stations with standard measuring equipment:

PORT CANAVERAL               47 MPH    0830 PM 09/03   MESOWEST             

MERRITT ISLAND               46 MPH    0215 AM 09/04   RAWS                 

COCOA BEACH CLUB             46 MPH    0825 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

DAIRY                        46 MPH    0737 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

PAC ACADEMY                  44 MPH    0350 AM 09/04   MESOWEST             

HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL         40 MPH    1130 PM 09/03   MESOWEST             

NEW SMYRNA BEACH             69 MPH    0244 AM 09/04   WXFLOW               

DAYTONA BEACH                55 MPH    0335 AM 09/04   CWOP                 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH             51 MPH    0500 AM 09/04   CWOP                 

PONCE INLET TOWN HALL        49 MPH    0300 AM 09/04   MESOWEST             

EMBRY RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UN 42 MPH    0810 PM 09/03   MESOWEST             

HERITAGE MIDDLE SCHOOL       41 MPH    0350 AM 09/04   MESOWEST             

DAYTONA BEACH                40 MPH    0210 AM 09/04   CWOP 

And by marine observing sites at the coast:

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH          59 MPH    0800 AM 09/04   NOAA

INDIAN RIVER DB27            61 MPH    0739 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

BANANA RIVER - 520           60 MPH    0217 AM 09/04   WXFLOW               

ROCKY POINT                  55 MPH    0837 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

PARRISH PARK NORTH           54 MPH    0341 AM 09/04   WXFLOW               

COCOA BEACH PIER             53 MPH    1025 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

ROCKLEDGE                    49 MPH    0704 PM 09/03   CWOP                 

MERRITT ISLAND               48 MPH    1134 PM 09/03   CWOP                 

JENSEN BEACH                 48 MPH    0255 PM 09/03   WXFLOW               

MELBOURNE BEACH              47 MPH    0628 PM 09/03   CWOP                 

TRIDENT PIER, FL             47 MPH    0224 AM 09/04   NOS-NWLON            

MELBOURNE                    46 MPH    0701 PM 09/03   CWOP                 

VERO BEACH                   43 MPH    0327 AM 09/04   CWOP
                 

The waves are reaching the sea wall in Vilano Beach. High tide is around 1pm. Couple that with storm surge and we’ll most likely see significant erosion. @wjxt4pic.twitter.com/5YVtQNgJws— Vic Micolucci WJXT (@WJXTvic) September 4, 2019

Major beach erosion occurred Tuesday at Flagler Beach, according to the National Weather Service, and at Vero Beach, according to WKMG-TV. Flooding of streets and parking lots was reported on barrier islands near Ft. Pierce at high tide just after midnight early Wednesday.

Dorian brought a storm surge of around two feet to central Florida at Port Canaveral, where minor flooding was observed. A surge of nearly three feet occurred in northern Florida near Jacksonville, but the highest surge occurred at the time of low tide and did not cause significant flooding.

Dorians rains over Florida have mostly been less than four inches, and have not caused significant damaging flooding thus far. The highest 48-hour rainfall amount reported by the NWS in Florida was 3.92″ at Lake Mary.

Storm surge threat will progress along the Southeast coast today into Friday

Now that Dorian is starting to accelerate northward, the storm surge threat to the vulnerable Southeast U.S. coast will increase. Dorian’s enlarged circulation is pushing vast amounts of water, so the surge will be larger than one might assume from Dorian’s decrease from Category 5 to Category 2 strength. Hurricanes such as Ike (2008) and Sandy (2012) produced massively destructive surge long after their peak winds decreased and their circulations expanded.

Fortunately, Dorian will be moving mainly parallel to the Southeast coast; all else being equal, that produces less surge than a hurricane striking the coast at a right angle, such as Ike and Sandy. Even so, as we saw with Matthew in 2016, a large, coast-hugging Southeast U.S. hurricane can produce a major, destructive storm surge.

Savannah and Charleston can both expect top-three all-time highest crests on Wednesday night, based on forecasts at river outlets:

Fort Pulaski, Georgia (Savannah)
Record crest:  12.56’ over mean high high water (Matthew, Oct. 8, 2016)
Second place:  12.24’ (Irma, Sept. 11, 2017)
Forecast peak for Dorian:  11.4’ late Wednesday night (third highest on record)

Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
Record crest:  12.52’ (Hugo, Sept. 22, 1989)
Second place:  10.23’ (Oct. 8, 1940)
Forecast peak for Dorian:  10.3’ late Wednesday night (second highest on record)Note that for Charleston, the fact that the water level from Dorian is expected to be about two feet less than Hugo does not apply to the region where Hurricane Hugo’s surge reached its maximum—the region north of Charleston near McClellanville, where Hugo’s storm surge of close to 20 feet will come nowhere near to being matched.

Significant surge from Dorian may extend up the coast all the way to the Hampton Roads area of southeast Virginia. After Dorian passes, unusually low tides could occur in many areas for a cycle or two.

It’s wild how fast the ocean goes flat in the wake of a passing hurricane, especially when winds turn hard offshore. Jupiter #Florida late last night (top), early this morning (bottom). #Dorian pic.twitter.com/Pdcq7tnmhz— Ed Russo (@EdRussoWX) September 4, 2019

Inland flooding a threat as Dorian advances

Torrential rains are expected along and near Dorian’s path as it moves up the Southeast coast. The NOAA/NWS Weather Prediction Center has placed most of coastal South Carolina and southernmost North Carolina under a high risk for excessive rains leading to flash flooding from Thursday into early Friday morning.

The very heaviest rains may not extend quite as far inland from Dorian as with some other recent hurricanes that hammered the Carolinas with catastrophic inland flooding, such as Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018). Dorian is not being steered by a strong upper trough, and the hurricane will not be crossing a strong preexisting frontal zone, two factors that can enhance rainfall. Extensive dry air may also limit inland rainfall. Still, inland flooding along and near the coastal zone will remain a serious threat, and it could exacerbate any storm surge flooding in estuaries and coastal rivers. We can expect widespread 6 – 10” rains within about 100 miles of the coast, with localized totals of 10-15” or more.

For those interested in monitoring Dorian’s rainfall and river flooding in detail, the U.S. Geological Survey has created a Dorian-focused tool that provides a real-time look at how various stream levels compare to various percentiles, ranging from normal to all-time daily highs and lows. 

Tornadoes could develop in coastal Carolinas as Dorian approaches

The atmosphere just ahead of Dorian will be primed for the compact, tornado-producing supercells that can develop in association with hurricanes. As surface winds rotating around a hurricane in advance of the storm are slowed and turned leftward by friction, the vertical structure of the atmosphere will gradually favor the type of wind shear that supports rotating thunderstorms. Thermodynamics will also favor supercells with Dorian, as very warm, humid air atop the Gulf Stream flows beneath somewhat drier air aloft, leading to enhanced instability.

The HRRR is going all-in on a tornado threat tonight off the SC coast in association w/#Dorian. This may not verify, but larger, stronger hurricanes like #Dorian often produce more tornadoes because its larger, more intense wind field ^ low-level shear over a greater area pic.twitter.com/7LKSTcNNv5— Eric Webb (@webberweather) September 4, 2019

The NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center is calling for a slight risk of severe weather across coastal South Carolina, mainly for Wednesday night, and for the North Carolina coast for Thursday and Thursday night. Tornado frequency with hurricanes is heavily concentrated in the right-hand forward quadrant, so given Dorian’s track near shore, tornadoes would be most likely close to the coast.

Tornadoes associated with hurricanes are typically short-lived, but they can be intense and damaging. A single rainband can spawn several small, tornado-producing storms. Overall, hurricanes represent about 3-4% of all tornadoes since 1950, but some years, such as the busy Atlantic season of 2004, hurricanes are responsible for a large chunk of all U.S. tornadoes. That year’s Hurricane Ivan produced a record 118 tornadoes, including 38 in Virginia—the most extensive tornado outbreak on record for any mid-Atlantic or Northeastern state.

Two well-known storm chasers survive Dorian’s assault on Abaco Island

Two veteran storm chasers—Josh Morgerman of iCyclone.com and Jim Edds(@ExtremeStorms)—holed up in Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco Island and experienced the eyewall winds and calm eye of Hurricane Dorian. Since Dorian made landfall there as the third strongest landfalling tropical cyclone in world history—with sustained winds of 185 mph gusting to 220 mph—these storm chasers had the opportunity to take videos of the strongest hurricane winds ever caught on camera. The only stronger tropical cyclones at landfall in world history were Super Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines, 2013) and Super Typhoon Meranti (Philippines, 2016), which both had 190 mph winds at landfall. Morgerman did intercept Super Typhoon Haiyan, but not at its initial landfall point when it was at peak intensity.

After not being heard from for over two days after the storm hit, Morgerman finally reported in yesterday that he was safe. A tweet from this morning announced that he had measured a pressure of 913 mb in the eye:

#Hurricane #DORIAN produced the most intense winds I’ve personally witnessed– they tossed & mangled cars like toys. DORIAN also gave me lowest pressure I’ve ever measured–a whopping 913.4 mb in eye. I’ll share more of the hardcore meteorological details tomorrow, after I sleep. pic.twitter.com/r8FPwcCvlr— Josh Morgerman (@iCyclone) September 4, 2019

I received two satellite phone email messages yesterday from Jim Edds. He took a portable barometer and relayed an eye pressure that agreed with the 911 mb pressure that NHC estimated for Dorian at its initial landfall. Jim’s message:

Jeff, Jim Edds here in Hope Town, Bahamas, east of Marsh Harbor. Recorded 911.2mb, blue sky eye w/ intermittent thin low cirrus.180-degree wind shift after eye passage. No home is livable. I am next to Lighthouse @ place called Hope Town Inn & Marina.

The next potential serious threat: a tropical wave emerging from the coast of Africa

The next system that has the potential to be long-track Cape Verdes-type hurricane is a tropical wave that emerged from the coast of Africa Wednesday morning. Satellite images on Wednesday morning showed that this system, which had not yet been given an “Invest” designation by NHC, was not very impressive, with only a limited amount of heavy thunderstorm activity and spin. However, the atmosphere in front of it has favorable conditions for development, with low to moderate wind shear, plus a good deal of mid-level moisture, as seen on the latest Saharan Air Layer Analysis. This moisture is partially due to the passage of Dorian across the tropics in late August.

Recent runs of our three top models for predicting tropical cyclone genesis—the GFS, European and UKMET—have all shown at least limited support for development, with the GFS model showing gung-ho support for development of the wave into a hurricane in several runs (though not the latest 6Z and 12Z Wednesday runs). The wave is predicted to take a west to west-northwest track over the coming week, and it has the potential to be a long-range threat to the Lesser Antilles Islands, North America and/or Bermuda. There’s lots of time to watch this one before we need be concerned, though. In their 8 am EDT Tropical Weather Outlook, NHC gave this system 2-day and 5-day odds of development of 0% and 60%, respectively.

Fernand, Gabrielle, and 92L

Tropical Storm Fernand formed on Tuesday afternoon in the far western Gulf of Mexico, about 185 miles east-northeast of Tampico Mexico, and made landfall Wednesday morning on Mexico’s northeast Gulf Coast. Very heavy rains—6 to 12 inches, with isolated 18” amounts—could produce dangerous mudslides and flash floods from the coast into the higher terrain of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Radar estimates from the NOAA Doppler weather radar in Brownsville, Texas (KBRO), indicate that 9 to 12 inches of rainfall may have already occurred across portions of these areas. South Texas and the Lower Texas Coast are expected to receive 2 to 4 inches of rain from Fernand, with a chance of a few tornadoes.

Update: Satellite imagery indicates that the center of Tropical Storm #Fernand made landfall along the coast of NE Mexico around 1115 AM CDT about 35 miles (55 km) north of La Pesca with estimated maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h).https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/vRngjbc1uX— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 4, 2019

Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed off the coast of Africa on Tuesday night, and is headed to the northwest into the open central Atlantic. The good news is that Gabrielle is expected to be a fish storm, with no impact on any land areas. At 11 am EDT Wednesday, Gabrielle had winds of 50 mph, and was expected to gradually intensify to 65 mph winds in five days.

Another disturbance (Invest 92L) was just east of Bermuda, heading northeastward. Sea surface temperatures ahead of this system are unusually warm (28-29°C or 82-84°F, about 1-2°C above average), but satellite images show that high wind shear is keeping 92L’s heavy thunderstorm activity far away from the well-defined surface circulation. 92L is not a threat to any land areas. In their 8 am EDT Tropical Weather Outlook, NHC gave 92L 2-day and 5-day odds of development of 50%.

Bob Henson co-wrote this post.

For more on this story go to: https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Dorian-Brushes-Florida-More-Serious-Impacts-Ahead-Carolinas?cm_ven=cat6-widget