Matthew’s Track Moves West Again
Thursday, October 6th, 2016The track for Matthew has again moved west. Coastal Glynn County is now at the very edge of the hurricane-force wind field. Our NWS forecast now predicts that we will receive sustained winds of 55 MPH with gusts up to 75 mph. The winds are predicted to peak from about 9 PM Friday and last until 4 AM Saturday. There is currently a flood watch from now until Saturday, and a hurricane warning in effect for an unknown time.
In the overall weather picture, our winds, now 13 MPH, will begin to increase after noon tomorrow, peaking at the above speeds and times mentioned above. Then, as the storm passes, the wind will gradually wind down to about 20 MPH at 2 PM Saturday afternoon. The rain amount forecast hasn’t really changed, except that there is, unsurprisingly, a 100 percent chance of rain for a longer period.
The voluntary evacuation orders issued by Glynn County are still in effect. So far, no mandatory orders have been issued.
Having written all that, I’d like to point out that we are seeing a unique meteorological event. There is a second tropical weather pattern in the Atlantic named Tropical Storm Nicole (60 MPH winds). Matthew and Nicole are both influencing each others tracks in a big way. Because of this interaction, Matthew is now predicted to make a loop of around 1000 miles, and hit us again next week, as early as Monday. Everybody I talk with or read is expressing the same thing – variations on “Wow,” “Um,” “OMG,” “WTF.” And so on. I’ve seen storms loop from time to time, and I’ve even seen, as late as last year’s season, storms merge, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.
Remember that all these are predictions. And predictions change.