Tropical Depression 3 develops near Carolina coast, may intensify into Tropical Storm Chris this weekend
The third tropical system of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season formed off the coast of the Carolinas on Friday afternoon and will bring impacts along the East Coast through the weekend.
Tropical Depression 3 took shape late Friday afternoon approximately 230 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
People living or vacationing along the coast from South Carolina to North Carolina and southeastern Virginia should monitor the forecast closely due to the newly formed tropical depression.
Weakening steering winds may allow the system to linger within a couple hundred miles of the coast of North and South Carolina for several days.
If the tropical depression becomes better organized and strengthens, which is forecast, it could become a tropical storm and acquire the name Chris.
The latest indications are that the depression may miss a period of southwesterly steering winds. These winds would guide the system to the northeast and out to sea.
Instead, light winds in the area later this weekend into early next week may cause the tropical depression to meander over a couple-hundred-mile radius centered just off the Carolina coast. The meandering includes the possibility that the depression may wander onshore in the region.
With the scenario, "there is the potential for a few days of heavy rainfall that could result in flooding in parts of the Carolinas, especially in coastal areas, if the [depression] wanders close to shore," according to AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Brian Knopick.
Should the system meander offshore long enough over warm waters, there is a chance it could strengthen into a hurricane.
A strengthening tropical storm is likely to cause building seas and rough surf from northeastern Florida to southeastern Virginia into next week. Locally severe thunderstorms, including the risk of waterspouts spinning ashore, would also be a concern.
Coastal interests in the region should be on the lookout for changing sea conditions, including the risk of strengthening rip currents, this weekend into next week.
Small craft venturing outside of the protection of the Intercoastal Waterway could be at risk for a sudden tropical storm and building seas.
Cruise companies should closely monitor this situation and consider a path around the tropical depression.
Later next week, there is a chance that the system could be picked up by another round of southwesterly winds that could pull the feature along the East Coast or out to sea.
Depending on how close to the coast the system is, areas farther north along the mid-Atlantic, New England and Canada coasts could have an encounter with heavy rain and gusty winds from a tropical storm spanning next Thursday to Saturday, July 12-14.
Keep checking back with AccuWeather for the latest information on this tropical threat. AccuWeather's world-renowned experts will be closely monitoring this area of concern as well as Hurricane Beryl, which is scheduled to approach the western Caribbean Sea on Sunday.
