After a very wet week across the Palmetto state, more rain is expected through the weekend. Flash flooding risks remain in the ‘Marginal’ category across much of the Lowcountry through the weekend as we remain under a tropical airmass with a stalled front just to our south into southern Georgia and north Florida. Severe weather risks are low, but a few isolated storms may be capable of damaging wind gusts over 60 miles per hour.
Rainfall earlier in the week was quite impressive. Parts of the Midlands and Upstate received over 7 inches of rain between I-20 and I-85 this week, leading to some river flooding along the Saluda River and the Congaree River. This weekend’s rain will be more likely in southern and coastal parts of the state. Here, an additional inch of rain is expected with some locally higher amounts likely through Monday.
Fortunately, the broad area of low pressure off the coast this week was not able to develop into a tropical storm. As of Friday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center is now only giving this low a 10% chance of strengthening into a tropical storm. This low will continue to drift north and east and will move out of our area early next week.
The National Hurricane Center is also continuing to track another potential tropical storm in the Central Atlantic. This area of low pressure is in a somewhat unfavorable area for development now, but some slow intensification is expected into early next week. Currently, the forecast calls for a 50% chance that this low develops into a tropical storm by next Friday. It’s not yet clear if we will see any impacts from this potential tropical system.