Elevated to a Category 5 storm Monday, Hurricane Milton could bring residual effects to Beaufort County later this week, including rough surf and damaging winds. But as the storm marched northeast across the Gulf of Mexico, meteorologists conceded there was “much uncertainty” in the current forecast, according to the National Weather Service office in Charleston.
The hurricane is expected to graze Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula early Monday afternoon and make landfall in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday afternoon, according to a Monday morning NWS briefing. Conditions are likely to worsen in coastal South Carolina beginning Wednesday evening as the storm crosses through Florida and toward the Atlantic Ocean.
In the Hilton Head Island area, preliminary forecast models list a 10% chance for tropical-storm force winds beginning around 8 p.m. Wednesday. Those conditions are defined as one-minute wind speed averages reaching 39 mph or more.
The storm could also bring “significant coastal flooding” during high tide early Thursday afternoon in areas including Beaufort County, according to the Monday briefing. NWS meteorologists said it was “too far out” Monday morning to predict the storm’s total flood risk in coastal South Carolina and Georgia.
Under current forecasts, Hurricane Milton is expected to spare most of the southeast United States, whose communities were still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. The storm’s death toll inched up to 227 over the weekend, including 41 in South Carolina — more than the state’s 35 causalities from Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Milton formed Saturday in the southwest Gulf of Mexico, unlike most hurricanes’ starting points in the Caribbean or Atlantic. A hurricane with Milton’s projected path is incredibly rare — the last time it was recorded happening was in 1867, according to NBC News.
As Hurricane Kirk continues its path toward Europe, the distant storm could generate rip currents on Hilton Head beaches this week, the NWS says. Beaufort and Jasper counties were under a high risk for rip currents Monday until 8 p.m., according to the latest advisories.
Mike Wagner, director of Shore Beach Service, said Hilton Head lifeguards were flying yellow flags Monday.
Source Agencies
