At 1:00 pm CDT Ernesto was still a tropical storm, but with minor strengthening could reach minimal hurricane status before landfall late today near just north of Myrtle Beach near the South Carolina and North Carolina border. Current location is 90 miles southeast of Charleston and 180 miles south-southwest of Wilmington. Max sustained winds were 70 mph (74 mph is a Category 1) with some higher gusts. Here’s the visible loop and here’s the infrared loop so you can keep tabs on Ernesto. Regardless of its classification, isolated tornadoes are possible in eastern North Carolina through tonight. The largest threat will be flooding; a widespread 4″ to 8″ is expected with some areas receiving around a foot of rain.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Tropical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.