North Atlantic

Significant Events

Hurricane Florence Satellite Image
Source: NOAA's NNVL

Hurricane Florence was a long-lived tropical cyclone that brought devastating flooding to the Carolinas in September 2018. The storm became a tropical depression on August 31^st off the African Coast. The storm moved slowly to the West and strengthened along its route, reaching Cat. 4 hurricane strength on September 4^th. Florence encountered high wind shear and weakened back to tropical storm status. The storm eventually entered a favorable environment with warm sea surface temperatures and low wind shear and re-strengthened into a Cat. 4 hurricane, reaching its peak intensity with winds of 138 mph. As the storm slowly drifted to towards the Carolina Coast it underwent and Eye Wall Replacement Cycle and entrained dry air into the circulation, causing it to weaken to a Cat. 1 hurricane before making landfall on September 14^th with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

Florence moved extremely slowly after making landfall, with a forward motion between 3 and 5 mph, and at points moving nearly parallel to the coast. This caused a prolonged surge event along the Carolina coast and extremely high rainfall totals. Numerous locations observed over 30 inches of precipitation from the storm with rivers across the eastern Carolinas cresting at new record high levels. The highest rainfall total was reported near Elizabethtown, NC with a total of 35.93 inches. Many locations in the region were already on track to have their wettest year on record before Florence, so the precipitation fell on saturated soils. Some locations observed flooding that was classified as a 1-in 1,000 year flood event. Wind gusts over 105 mph were also observed along the coast adding to the devastation. The flood event was prolonged and lasted several weeks as the copious amounts of water that fell across inland areas made their way through the rivers to the ocean. One of the hardest hit communities was New Bern, North Carolina where the heavy rains and prolonged storm surge caused water to rise and inundate large parts of the city. Over 800,000 customers lost power during the event. At least 34 tornadoes were also spawned by the storm as it moved inland and eventually into the Mid-Atlantic with several tornadoes across the Richmond, Virginia metro area. There were at least 51 fatalities blamed on the storm and damages are expected to easily exceed $1 billion.

East Pacific