A Stronger Hurricane Ian Moves Closer To The South Carolina Coast

Hurricane Ian 5am 9/30

Photo: National Hurricane Center

After devastating portions of Florida's Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ian is closing in on the coast of South Carolina with 85 mile per hour winds.

Life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions are expected along the coast by this afternoon. Flooding rains are likely across the Carolinas and Southern Virginia.

Here's the latest from the National Hurricane Center:

At 500 AM EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Ian was located

near latitude 30.8 North, longitude 79.1 West. Ian is moving toward

the north-northeast near 9 mph (15 km/h). A turn toward the north

with an increase in forward speed is expected this morning,

followed by a turn toward the north-northwest by tonight. On the

forecast track, the center of Ian will approach and reach the coast

of South Carolina today, and then move farther inland across

eastern South Carolina and central North Carolina tonight and

Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (140 km/h) with higher

gusts. Little change in strength is expected before Ian reaches

the coast later today. Rapid weakening is expected after landfall,

and Ian is forecast to become an extratropical low over North

Carolina tonight or on Saturday. The low is then expected to

dissipate by Saturday night.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from

the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 485

miles (780 km). A sustained wind of 38 mph (61 km/h) and a gust

to 52 mph (83 km/h) were recently reported at the Hilton Head

Airport in South Carolina. An elevated WeatherFlow station at the

Winyah Bay Range Light in South Carolina measured a sustained wind

of 49 mph (80 km/h) and a gust to 71 mph (115 km/h) during the past

couple of hours.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 984 mb (29.06 inches).


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