Ophelia Makes Landfall In North Carolina, Almost At Hurricane Strength

Satellite view of Tropical Storm Ophelia shortly after
it made landfall in North Carolina early this morning.
Center of Ophelia is in lower left of photo. It was
already sending high clouds all the way into southern Quebec.

Tropical Storm Ophelia almost made it to hurricane force before making landfall at 6:15 this morning at Emerald Island, North Carolina. It had top sustained winds of 70 mph,  just 4 mph shy of hurricane strength. 

That fact that Ophelia wasn't quite a hurricane at landfall doesn't matter much to the people living in eastern North Carolina and Virginia. 

It's still nasty, and a bit dangerous in this storm. Cape Lookout, North Carolina had sustained winds at 61 mph with gusts to 73 mph earlier this morning. 

At least 50,000 people were without electricity this morning in North Carolina and Virginia as of early this morning and that number is expected to grow.  

Coastal flooding isn't too extreme, but it is widespread. Coastal flood warnings extend from North Carolina all the way up to Long Island, New York. 

It no longer takes that much of a storm to cause coastal inundations because sea levels have risen due to climate change. 

Moisture from Ophelia raises the risk of inland flooding from North Carolina all the way up the coast to Connecticut.

Ophelia will gradually weaken and eventually turn into a fairly lame, non tropical storm somewhere near Delaware by Sunday night. 

The remnants of Ophelia could drift off the coast eventually and perhaps regenerate a bit over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, we'll see.

VERMONT EFFECTS

Well, we're certainly escaping much trouble from Ophelia here in the Green Mountain State, expect maybe in far southern Vermont. They will have a spell of rather unpleasant, but definitely not dangerous weather. 

Clouds and showers from moisture thrown north by Ophelia will keep far southern Vermont damp and chilly. In many towns in Bennington and Windham counties, highs today and tomorrow could stay in the 50s. 

Those clouds from Ophelia will make it all the way to the  Canadian border and beyond. But the further north you go in Vermont today and tomorrow, the higher and thinner the clouds.  That will allow some sun to come through, and it will be mild enough.

The clouds and possible sprinkles as far north as Route 4 will keep daytime temperatures both days this weekend in the mid 60s in central Vermont. 

By the time you get to Route 2 and north, highs both today and tomorrow will be well into the 60s to around 70.

The veil of high clouds over northern areas this weekend puts us at risk, for the lack of a better word of another round of gorgous sunsets this weekend. 

Beyond that, we get our biggest break of the year in terms of weather. Rainfall has become somewhere more infrequent in Vermont this month, at least compared to the constant deluges from mid-June through August.

Strong high pressure is still expected to stall mostly in Quebec starting Monday.  That means it appears we'll have generally sunny, mild days and cool nights with patchy fog daily Monday through possibly all the way to next Saturday. 

We'll get either no or extremely little rain. You might have to water late season plants. But things overall are so wet in the ground that a week of rainless weather won't harm anything. 

Get out and enjoy the great weather next week!