7-Day Forecast: Hurricane Matthew

Cornelia reported a high of 80.4 and a low of 65.3 on Tuesday. We’ll be about the same today.

The main forecast point I want to get to is Hurricane Matthew, but first locally we will continue to have a very boring, albeit nice, weather pattern. Expect highs today and tomorrow to top out in the upper-70’s with occasional passing clouds and a zero percent chance of rain. Humidity levels will remain quite low so it won’t feel too bad outside at all.

We’ll stay in the 70’s or low-80’s through Saturday, when the models diverge just a bit.

The Euro and GFS both manage to squeeze out some showers across the area on Friday as a weak front tries to get close to us and Hurricane Matthew sits off the GA coast. There’s only a slight chance, however, so no drought relief is expected.

Unfortunately, model trends today have been for the cold front to not push through our area, and thus not take Matthew well away from the United States. This is a complicated upper level pattern, but suffice to say last night’s 0z American Model run takes Matthew on a loop tour of the Bahamas before eventually sending him off to Nova Scotia 12 days from now.

However… short-term forecasts for Matthew haven’t changed a ton, though a closer approach to the GA coast is looking fairly likely. This has prompted Governor Deal to issue a State of Emergency for the coast.

It remains HIGHLY unlikely that we see any direct impacts, but conditions could become a bit breezy by Saturday night as he rides up the coast to our east with gusts to 20-25MPH  possible. If you  have any friends/family or interests along the entire southeast coast, especially eastern Florida and the GA Coasts, make sure they are ready to evacuate/are evacuating, especially those that live right along the water. Depending on the exact track of Matthew, a catastrophic storm surge along the GA coast is possible, but this could be lessened if the eye “bounces” out to sea a bit as the 0z GFS shows. Here’s the latest official NHC track, but be advised there is still considerable uncertainty past Friday/Saturday right now and the latest models indicate landfall near Cape Canaveral with a more easterly track after that.

As Matthew hangs around well off the coast, we won’t be seeing  a chance for any significant rain for quite some time, so get used to the dry conditions.

Everybody have a great day, and keep the people of the Caribbean and the Bahamas in your thoughts and prayers. ~TW