The remnants of Hurricane Ian passed the Carolinas on Friday and Saturday, completing the storm’s week-long zigzag passage through the Caribbean, through Florida, and finally up the Atlantic coast and land.
By Ian twisted line, undulating and intertwined from east and west, is the result of its interaction with other nontropical atmospheric features. Initially, the storm’s northward advance through the Gulf of Mexico encountered a barrier in the form of jet stream chute across the eastern United States. That redirected it to the east and into the west coast of Florida at a Type 4 power pack Gale up to 140 mph.
Such a storm is a rare event for that stretch of coast. Their last direct hit from a hurricane of such magnitude came from Charley in 2004. Before that, the last major hurricane to make landfall between Tampa and Naples was October 1921.
After crossing Florida and moving through the warm Gulf Stream, Ian regained hurricane strength and landed near Georgetown, SC, as Rank 1 on Friday afternoon. The storm’s subsequent path to the northwest carried its remnants across North Carolina, and we saw impacts spread from the coastline to the peaks and everywhere in between.
Ian’s Wind and Surge
The combination of Ian’s power and the pressure gradient between its low pressure center and High pressure in our north generating some impressive winds across the state.
Of our 45 weather stations ECONet, 19 tropical storms with gusts of at least 39 mph. Stations in each area of the state wind gusts measured over 50 mph, including 54.28 mph in Mount Mitchell52.90 mph at Rock mountainand 50.71 mph at Jackson Springs.
On the south coast, the National Weather Service relayed reports of a gust of 78 mph from Oak Island and a speed of 77 mph at Federal Points south of Wilmington. Adding to their turbulent weather, a Tornadoes have even been reported at Holden Beach on a Friday afternoon.
A storm blown by the wind reaches up to 5 feet tall on the Cape Fear River in Wilmington. It was the fifth highest on record at that measurebehind the crest from some of our most notorious storms – Isaias, Florence, Matthewand hazel.
As the storm moved inland, power outages peaked more than 360,000 customers in North Carolina, primarily in population centers in the Triangle and Triangle. That’s a similar peak number to Isaias from 2020, when up to 369,978 customers without electricity.
Heavy rain and its dangers
Ian’s other broad-based impact was precipitation with a total of more than 2 inches in the Piedmont and Coastal Plains, covering an area more than 6 inches from Washington to Cape Lookout to Cape Hatteras.
In Carteret County, a CoCoRaHS observer in Williston reported a total for two days of 8.10 inches and Beaufort received 4.79 inches on Friday alone, which is the largest single-day total rainfall there since Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
Tropical storms often draw the line between welcome rain and too much water, and that was certainly the case with Ian. It effectively eliminates seasonal rainfall deficits in places like City of Elizabeth – now just 0.42 inches below normal since early July, compared with a deficit of 3.78 inches before the storm – and will erode or erase Moderate drought in those areas.
But such heavy rains over such a short period have resulted in localized flooding, and some farmers may be worried about timing, as the ongoing harvest could be delayed with the crop growing. the field was so wet after Ian woke up. Prolonged exposure to moisture can also create concern for Dry grass rots and mold grows on plants.
The storm is blamed for four deaths in North Carolina: three from auto accidents on wet or flooded roads, and one from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running indoors.
A place in our hurricane history
Ian is the latest in a string of recent storms to affect North Carolina after initially making landfall along the Gulf coast. In 2018, Category 5 Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida for the first time and is still packed strong wind when it reaches us.
Our State 2nd wettest year on record in 2020 includes rainfall contributions from the remnants of hurricanes Sally, Beta, Delta, Zeta, and Eta, all of which reached us from the Gulf.
And last year, all three hurricanes affected North Carolina – Claudette in June, Elsa in July, and Fred in August – also arrived off the Gulf.
Of course, Ian made a second landfall on the east coast of the United States just north of Charleston, and its path to the northwest from there conjures up some memories of Hugo – although much less powerful than the major storm of 1989.
Of the historic hurricanes, the one that probably came closest to Ian’s path and influence in North Carolina was Storm Bob from July 1985. It also crossed Florida from west to east before making landfall in South Carolina as a Category 1. Most of North Carolina saw rain from that storm, with a total of three days 7.38 inches in Washington.
That year, Bob was the first, but not the only, hurricane to affect North Carolina. In September 1985, Storm Gloria grazed the Outer Banks and brought torrential downpours across the eastern part of the state.
So will Ian have a successor this year? Although typical peak of activity was behind us, due to the late start of this hurricane season, we couldn’t let our guard down.
