Charleston - Tropical Storm Alberto churned just off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Sunday where heavy rain and dangerous surf are expected from beach resort Myrtle Beach south to Savannah, forecasters at the United States National Hurricane Centre said.
Bringing an early start to the Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto reached tropical storm strength on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon was about 150km south-east of Savannah, according to the hurricane centre in Miami. Its maximum sustained winds had dropped to 75km/h, down from 85km/h overnight.
Alberto was moving slowly west-southwest with tropical storm force winds extending about 110km from the centre. The hurricane centre expected little change in strength for the next 48 hours and its centre was expected to stay offshore.
“It's moving very slowly,” said meteorologist Brett Cimbora of the National Weather Service in Charleston. “It likes the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream. It's going to try to hug that.”
An Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter plane is expected to provide a better estimate of the intensity of Alberto later on Sunday.
Dangerous surf conditions were predicted along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina through Monday before the storm makes a slow turn to the northeast, making its way along the US mid-Atlantic seaboard before dissipating in about five days.
That would keep it well away from the Gulf of Mexico, where US oil and gas operations are clustered, but could bring squalls and rough surf to the Carolina coast.
Most effects will be seen out to sea in the vicinity of the storm, said Cimbora. “We'll have some shallow flooding along low-lying coastal areas, where the marshes are, from high tide and the wind pushing on it. There could be light erosion. Nothing like, say, Irene last year,” he added.
Winds on Sunday mid-afternoon were 27km/h in Charleston and Savannah, he said. Callers from the beaches have reported waves at around1.2m, Cimbora added, and rip current risk was high.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, but storms outside that time frame are not uncommon. Alberto was the earliest-forming Atlantic storm since 2003, when Tropical Storm Ana formed more than five weeks before the official start of the season, the hurricane centre said. - Reuters