Hopes of tropical storm rain for NC dry up

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Just yesterday, the tone of media coverage regarding Tropical Storm Fay was hopeful, as I noted in this post. But what a difference a day makes. Reporters yesterday quoted weather-guessers as saying there was a good chance the storm would bring much-needed rain to drought-stricken North Carolina.

Today, the weather-guessers have changed their tune.

From WRAL in Raleigh:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Tropical Storm Fay might not provide much needed drought relief for North Carolina.

A high-pressure system settling in over the eastern United States will force Fay to make a turn at the Florida-Georgia border after it heads northeast, according to National Weather Service forecaster Brandon Vincent.

Fay could possibly stall over Georgia and will likely steer away from central North Carolina. The storm had been expected to reach the mountains by Saturday.

Hopes were high that Fay would bring relief for drought-ravaged sections of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Chances are dwindling that the storm will provide much rain this week, although the storm could turn back toward the state if the high pressure system weakens, forecasters said.

Here’s the G’boro newspaper:

A key to the Triad’s water supply this year changed direction off the coast of Florida on Monday evening, leaving it unlikely the area will see any beneficial rain.

Tropical Storm Fay, which made landfall on Florida’s southwest coast early Tuesday, has the potential to drop much-needed rain across the Southeast as it comes ashore. But a change in the forecast track for Fay suggests what’s left of the storm later this week won’t dump desperately needed rainfall on North Carolina as initially expected.

“It appears now that the chances are less that central North Carolina will get beneficial rains form the system,” Brandon Vincent, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Raleigh, said in a telephone interview Monday night. “The mountains still have a chance, but it will be later in the weekend.”

The latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center shows Fay heading northeast through Florida toward its northeast border with Georgia.