Gustav’s gone; let’s track Hanna

Now that the concern over the impact of Hurricane Gustav has largely waned, folks in Western North Carolina can focus on the next storm — Hanna. I’m expecting to see conjecture about the possible impacts of Hannah: where is it going? will it bring more heavy rain and flooding to the area? etc.

Ray’s Weather, the best local weather forecasting for Western North Carolina, has this to say:

The tropics continue to be exceedingly busy. With Gustav now inland and producing torrential rainfall through the Arklatex region, attention now turns to Hurricane Hanna located in the southeastern Bahamas. We expect Hanna to track to the northwest over the next couple of days, with a landfall between Savannah and Charleston sometime on Friday as a category two or three hurricane. A track northward through central SC and then the North Carolina Piedmont is favored at this time.

On this course, rain (with the heaviest rain east of the mountains) would overspread the area on Friday before lifting north of the state on Saturday. Unlike Fay, Hanna would likely retain sufficient strength to produce strong winds around our local area. This could be a high-impact event, so we’re going to be following this extremely carefully.