Hurricane Hermine's First Chapter Recap | The Weather Channel (original) (raw)

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• Hermine made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just east of St. Marks, Florida, at 1:30 a.m. EDT Sept. 2.
• Damaging storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain spread from Florida to the coastal Southeast states.

(MORE: Interactive Storm Tracker | Photos)

Hermine made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane just east of St. Marks, Florida, at 1:30 a.m. EDT Friday. Hermine was the state's first hurricane landfall since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

We first began tracking this system when it was known as an "Invest", an area highlighted by the National Hurricane Center for possible development, just off the west coast of Africa on August 18.

Known as "Invest-99L", this tropical wave made the long journey to the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico and Bahamas without developing into a tropical cyclone, thanks to a combination of wind shear, dry air, and interaction with land.

Despite that, it soaked parts of the Caribbean, Bahamas and Cuba.

More than 1,700 people were displaced from their homes in the Dominican Republic due to heavy rainfall.

Santa Lucia, Cuba, picked up a whopping 12.50 inches (317.4 millimeters) of rain in 36 hours ending at 8 a.m. EDT on August 30, according to Weather Underground's director of meteorology, Dr. Jeff Masters.

Hermine finally earned its name as a tropical storm on August 31 after data collected by the NOAA Hurricane Hunters indicated that the system was producing tropical storm-force winds. It became a hurricane about 24 hours later on Sept. 1 as it approached the Florida Gulf Coast.

Wind Reports

Here are some of the notable wind gust reports from Hermine in the Southeast:

• 79 mph was reported at an elevation of 115 feet south of Apalachicola with sustained winds of 61 mph late Thursday
• 76 mph at C-Tower, south of St. George Island, Thursday evening
• 75 mph early Thursday evening near Indian Shores Beach in western Pinellas County
• 67 mph in Keaton Beach, Florida
• 64 mph gusts were reported at Florida State University's football stadium in Tallahassee
• 63 mph near Tybee Island, Georgia.
• 62 mph at St. Petersburg's Albert Whitted Airport and near Clearwater Beach on Thursday evening.
• 62 mph on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
• 61 mph in Buxton, North Carolina, early Saturday.
• 59 mph near Folly Island, South Carolina on Friday evening.
• 58 mph near Dewees Island, South Carolina with sustained winds of 40 mph on Friday afternoon.
• 54 mph at Shaw Air Force Base.
• 53 mph in Apalachicola, Florida on Thursday evening and in Brunswick, Georgia on Friday afternoon.
• 53 mph in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday evening
• 52 mph occurred at Clearwater Beach later Thursday evening, and a 51 mph gust was measured at Cedar Key.
• 51 mph at Virginia Beach, Virginia, early Saturday morning.

Rain Reports

The top rainfall total related to Hermine was 22.36 inches at Lake Tarpon Canal, Florida, located near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

That rain fell in a 72-hour period ending early Sept. 2 and was partially due to deep moisture pulled into the state well to the east of the system's center when it was in the Gulf.

Nearby Baskin, Florida, picked 18.89 inches of rain.

Parts of south Georgia, the eastern Carolinas and southeast Virginia saw more than a half foot of rain. Here are the top rain amounts in those states:

Georgia: 6.37 inches at AlmaSouth Carolina: 9.93 inches at Myrtle BeachNorth Carolina: 13.34 inches at Cedar IslandVirginia: 6.50 inches at Holiday Island

Storm Surge Reports

At Cedar Key, Florida, water levels peaked at 6.1 feet above MHHW (Mean Higher High Water) just after midnight Friday with Hurricane Hermine's landfall, a record storm surge for the location, topping the surge from Hurricane Elena (5.41 feet above MHHW) on August 31, 1985.

The Perry, Florida, police department reported severe damage along the Taylor County coastline from storm surge. This is located just north of Cedar Key.

At Alligator Point, Florida, the surge caused significant damage to a road along the immediate coast.

Storm surge also inundated eastern North Carolina, reaching 4 feet east of Aurora.

Major coastal flooding was recorded at several gauges in the Virginia Tidewater region.

Tornadoes

Hermine did not produce many tornadoes compared to some tropical cyclones

Two EF1 tornadoes were confirmed in Carteret County, North Carolina. A tornado also touched down at Skidaway Island, Georgia.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Hermine Impacts

Robert Moses life guards observe increases swells at Robert Moses beach ahead of Tropical Storm Hermine's anticipated arrival, Sept. 5, 2016. (Johnny Milano/weather.com)