Re: Nicole AFTERMATH
Posted by Tim_NC on 10/6/2010, 12:27 pm
Thanks for the pics wxboy; but I wouldn't give Nicole credit for this event.

This historic event was caused by a ginormous trough that covered the eastern half of the country day after day with a stalled frontal boundary draped across the coast. Enhancing all that was a closed ULL over the southeast states, and waves of low pressure riding the front. Nicole was merely a pimple on this mega-feature.

After days of torrential rain, a surface Low formed off the S.E. coast and quickly moved inland over northern S.C. during the wee hours. This Low had very little time to develop before making landfall yet it still managed to produce Gale conditions to all of the N.C. coast.

As the Low passed by (inland), ocean-front winds were for a while sustained in the 40mph area; with peak winds in the 50-60mph range. Towns not on the immediate coast reported lower winds  "Wilmington" of course reported little wind because its 10-miles inland airport sits on a filled-in swamp that is partially surrounded by low hills (hills that make a great overlook to airport operations.)

Some peak winds for coastal towns in Northern N.C.:

Cape Hatteras; 60mph
Beaufort: 56 mph
Emerald Isle; 55mph
New River; 53mph
Swansboro; 52mph
Cherry Point; 51mph

I don't have data for Southern N.C. other than Wrightsville Beach which had early morning winds of 40 G50+.

All in all, we had an historic rain event; caused by a multi-day anomalous synoptic pattern. The S.C. coastal Low was a minor side-show; and Lisa's remnants were a trivial afterthought (adding 2" to the previous 20" of rain on Cape Fear.)

Wilmington Rainfall:
# 9/26/10 - 0.59"
# 9/27/10 - 10.33"
# 9/28/10 - 1.96"
# 9/29/10 - 7.37"
# 9/30/10 - 2.29"
# Total - 22.54"

Giving credit to Lisa for this event makes things "simple" but it's highly misleading.

Tim NC

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Nicole AFTERMATH - wxboy34, 10/1/2010, 5:04 pm
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