Heavy rain fails to materialize as tropical system blows through
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 30, 2017 5:50 AM
Predicted gusty winds and heavy rains failed to materialize Monday night into Tuesday as strong winds aloft impeded development of a tropical system off the North Carolina coast.
"We need to thank strong wings aloft," said Nick Petro, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. "Tropical systems form in the lower level (of the atmosphere) and build upward."
Wind shear in the upper atmosphere was stronger than what computer models predicted, he said.
That strong wind prevented the storm from developing as fully and quickly as forecasters had thought it would, Petro said.
A flash flood watch and wind advisory that had been announced for the county through 8 p.m. Tuesday night were instead canceled early Tuesday morning.
And the originally predicted heavy rainfall of 3 to 5 inches wound up being a one-inch light rain.
The area experienced a northwest wind of 17 mph with gusts as high as 28 mph.
As of 8 a.m. Tuesday the storm was moving northeast past the Cape Fear River near Wilmington.
By 2 p.m. it was centered over the Pamlico Sound as it continued to move to the northeast at 20 mph and out to sea.
Wayne County will get a break from the rain tonight through about noon on Thursday when the chance of rain and thunderstorms returns and lingers through Saturday.
Temperatures will remain on the mild side with highs in the low 80s through Saturday and nighttime lows in the upper 60s.