Ophelia Continues to Perplex Forecasters
Posted on September 11, 2005
After stalling just off the east coast of South Carolina, Hurricane Ophelia appears to be finally making its move. As of the 5PM advistory from the National Hurricane Center says the storm has winds of 75mph making it a Category 1 hurricane. The NHC says little change is strength is expected over the next 24 hours. The storm is now forecast to either make landfall somewhere in SC or NC or just skirt the outerbanks before moving out to sea. It is also still possible the storm could miss the U.S. East Coast entirely and head out to sea. The storm could also skim the east coast which would make things interesting for east coast residents. Hopefully the storm will not intensify beyond a Cat 1 and the damage will be on the lighter side. However, Ophelia is a large storm with tropical storm force winds extending out for 160 miles from the center of the storm. If a storm of this size does skim the east coast there could be significant problems such as downed trees and power lines and long delays at major airports.