Navigating Hurricane Season: How We Can Help You Stay Secure

As forecasted, the disturbance we have been watching formed into Hurricane Helene.  It will make landfall in the Panhandle / Big Bend area of Florida Thursday night and make its way north to the latitude of Greenville within 12 hours of landfall.  Fast mover.  Its closest approach to the Stasmayer Head Office will be about 150-170 miles away around 5am-ish on Friday morning. 

Due to the size of the circulation and the speediness of the forward motion of the storm, we’ll be on the meat grinder side of the storm for a little bit in the early morning hours.  And because it’s the more fun side, we’ll expect a tropical storm with some rotating storms and the occasional tornado as the feeder bands come ashore.  The closer you get to Georgia and Greenville, the worse the weather will get with increasing rains and flooding.

In Charleston, this will be a wind event.  Peak winds will be 5AM and will improve steadily from there throughout the day.  Morning logistics will have the most significant impacts.

CHS Wind Forecast:

PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE POWER AND DATA OUTAGES THROUGHOUT THE STATE

The bottom line is it’s going to be sloppy for about 12 hours in a lot of places.  Plan morning logistics accordingly and monitor local weather and government outlets.

I’ve attached the latest updates from the Hurricane Center, Columbia NWS forecast area and the Charleston, SC forecast area.  Get the latest official forecast at weather.gov and hurricanes.gov.