A Hurricane Up the Coastline Usually Means Nice Weather Here

By: Dan Bickford | News Channel 7
Published: August 24, 2011 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

As the forecast track of Hurricane Irene keeps slowly shifting east, it in increasingly likely that we'll have some sunny conditions over the weekend. For a couple of reasons, this is not unusual, even with a powerful storm lurking not far away.

First, the wettest part of such a coastal storm is usually on the north and east side, where copious Atlantic moisture can wrap around the counter-clockwise circulation of the storm. The southwestern side of the storm tends a little drier as the winds usually grab drier air from the northwest. Typically, an area 200 miles east of such a storm will have a much better chance for rain than an area 200 miles to the west.

Secondly, a strong tropical system is marked by a lot of rising air...that's what creates the clouds, showers, and thunderstorms. What goes up must come down, though...and sinking air will occur around the periphery of the storm. This tends to suppress cloud development and dry the air out a bit.

While weather patterns can make the situation more complex and provide some "exceptions to the rules", since I've been here some of our nicest late-summer/early-fall days have occurred as a storm travels north up the coast. This could very well be what's in store for our weekend, assuming the expected track prevails.

Just be glad the early-week projections of the storm being closer to Savannah, GA changed...that would have been a possible "worst-case" scenario for our area. Let's hope for our North Carolina neighbors that the storm track continues to push more east with time...