Rough seas, high rip current risk along NC coast due to Hurricane Fiona

View The Original Article Here

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Fiona remains a major Category 4 hurricane pulling slowly northward on Thursday.

The hurricane has brought a high rip current risk to the North Carolina coast through Saturday. Seas will also become rougher with wave heights expected to reach 3-7 feet on Thursday and 8-12 feet on Friday.

Minor coastal flooding is also a possibility with winds gusting from 25-40 mph.

Fiona will strengthen before passing west of Bermuda with rain through Friday morning.

The hurricane is expected to move quickly into the Atlantic side of Canada at week’s end. It will lose some wind intensity to a Category 2, but still bring damaging winds and major flooding starting Friday night, then transition to an extratropical storm near Labrador for the start of the weekend. This will be one of the strongest storms ever to hit the Atlantic side of Canada.

Tropical Storm Gaston remains well southwest of the Azores. Though not expected to directly impact land, the western Azores may get some showers and breezy weather toward the end of the week.

Invest 98L is the low pressure over the south Atlantic just north of South America. It’s unlikely to organize over the next 24 hours or so. However, this is likely to end up in an area of very warm water and low shear over the northwestern Caribbean this weekend, and so still has a high chance of development to a hurricane before passing into the Gulf of Mexico early next week.

Depending on the exact track and intensity, there may be impacts to parts of Central America as well as Jamaica, the Caymans and Cuba before affecting parts of the U.S. Gulf coast.

A tropical wave several hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands has a low chance to develop over the next several days as it moves generally to the northwest. Additionally, a wave moving off Africa later Thursday will have a medium chance of development toward the weekend.

Copyright © 2022 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.