Weather

Hurricane History...FRAN 1996

September 6th marked the 13th anniversary of Hurricane Fran's impacts on the Carolinas.  Making landfall near Wilmington, Fran was the strongest hurricane to strike the Carolinas since Donna in 1960.

Like most of the hurricanes of the 1990s, Fran just side-swiped the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.  However, her size and strength dealt quite a blow to many areas.

Wind gusts to hurricane force we common along the Grand Strand.  Some of the official

gusts included:

• 77 mph at Cherry Grover Pier
• 76 mph at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion
• 75 mph at the 2nd Avenue Pier
• 74 mph at the Garden City Pier

Rainfall ranged from 3 to as much as 9 inches.  This rain resulted in short term flash flooding during the storm, and long term river flooding in the weeks that followed the storm.

Jamie Arnold  |  Meteorologist  |  jamiearnold@wmbfnews.com

Erika is Still Hanging On...but not for long

Erika has been on a roller coaster ride as far as strength is concerned. Right now the models are in agreement that she will continue to slowly weaken through the weekend. The pressure has already begun to rise in the center of the storm to about 1010mb (the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm). the storm is also moving into to an area of dry air with westerly and southwesterly flow. All of these factors plus the chance of land interaction will all help Erika weaken over the next few days.

Erika is an elongated storm with a center that is not well defined, but she does have a habit of strengthening considerably in the overnight hours (this is common of most tropical storms and hurricanes). But if she stays true to her ways, you can expect a steady weakening as she moves northwest on her track to Puerto Rico. She is expected to make landfall for the first time early Friday Morning.

Meteorologist Marla Branson