Don't Forget Hanna

Gustav is getting a lot of national attention today, and rightly so, but Tropical Storm Hanna will likely have a much bigger impact on our weather in the Carolinas.

As of noon on Monday, Hanna was raking the Bahamas with 60mph sustained winds and torrential downpours.  It was moving toward the west-southwest at 4mph, but it is expected to begin moving toward the northwest within the next day or so.

The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center suggests the center could make landfall anywhere from the northeastern coast of Florida up to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  The "spaghetti plot" of model forecasts show some good agreement with a landfall near Savannah, GA, with the center traveling up toward the mountains through the weekend.  That said, there are a number of models that suggest a landfall farther north along the SC or NC coast with the center moving much closer to the Triangle.

Bottom line: Hanna bears watching for us inland, as it could cause us to have a windy and wet weekend.  Naturally, if you're reading this from the coast or if you have plans to the coast, you need to pay special attention to what Hanna does.