Tropical Storm Ophelia has made landfall near Emerald Isle, N.C. overnight on Saturday bringing 50+ mph winds and 2-4 inches of rain to areas around coastal Virginia and North Carolina.
Chief Meteorologist Patrick Rockey's First Warning Forecast
We have a date with a tropical storm to end summer and begin fall. Tropical Storm Ophelia will bring us messy weather through late Saturday.
Around 2 p.m. the storm became Tropical Storm Ophelia, and wind speeds reached near-hurricane levels as it moved towards land.
Tropical Storm Impacts:
*Tropical Storm Warning in effect for the entire region
*Bands of heavy rain move through this evening and early Saturday morning.
*Heaviest rain will be this evening throughout Saturday morning
*3-6" rain expected throughout this event
*Flood Watch for the entire area 2 PM Fri - 12 AM Sun
*2-4' storm surge. A storm surge is a wall of water pushed ashore by a tropical system.
*5-10' breaking waves tonight, 8-12' breaking waves Saturday in the Atlantic. 5-10' waves in the Chesapeake Bay.
*Strong NE winds 30-40 MPH gusting up to 55 MPH along the coast
*Tidal Flooding - up to 3' inundation. High tide cycles: 4 PM FRI, 3 AM SAT, 3 PM SAT
*Level 2 of 5 risk for severe storms across most of the region Friday. Level 1 of 5 severe risk for everyone Saturday. Isolated spin-up tornadoes possible, strong winds, flooding.
Things will quickly improve early Sunday as this system moves out of here. We should even be able to see a return of some sunshine later Sunday.
There will only be a couple days for us to dry out, then we move into an unsettled stretch most of next week. That will bring us daily scattered rain chances starting Tuesday. Winds also look to pick up again.
