Most of the midweek brought clouds and rain to southern New England. Tonight, we see some areas of patchy fog with temperatures slipping to near 60.
After a bit of cloud cover early tomorrow morning, we’ll finally see the return to sunshine by Friday afternoon with high temperatures into the 70s for most locations. Slight cooler conditions are expected at the immediate coastline with an onshore light breeze.
The weekend brings quiet conditions and highs near 80 both weekend days (Sunday being slightly warmer and a bit more humid than Saturday). A High Surf Advisory has been posted for the south coast, the Islands and the NH Seacoast associated with Hurricane Florence just off the coast of the Carolinas.
Monday still remains near 80 under mostly sunny skies before the remnants of Florence slides in ahead of a cold front by Tuesday.
Speaking of Florence, by the 5PM update Thursday, Hurricane Florence remains a Category 2 with winds sustained at 105 mph. Tropical-storm force winds have been battering the Outer Banks and SE coastal NC for most of the afternoon, but as Hurricane Florence veers closer to the Carolinas coastline, hurricane-force winds are also inching closer to land.
Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall early Friday morning near Wilmington, NC before slowly riding the coastline southward towards Myrtle Beach, SC. Storm surge still a major concern especially on the northside of the storm with upwards of 7-11 feet of inundation possible from Cape Fear to Cape Lookout, NC. Locally higher amounts for storm surge are possible along the rivers and sounds near New Bern, NC.
Flooding farther inland also a concern as Florence meanders over NC, SC, northern GA for several days. Some locations could reach at least 20 to 30″ of rainfall, with localized 40″ possible.
Florence is projected to weaken to a Tropical Storm by early Saturday before weakening to a Tropical Depression by Sunday near northern GA.