Full Notification

• Tropical Storm Arthur, currently located off the north Florida coast (about 220 miles SSE of Charleston, South Carolina. Motion is north at 7 MPH. Max sustained winds are 70 MPH with some higher gusts. The latest track from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), moves Arthur to the North Carolina coast by Thursday evening, then rapidly accelerates it northeastward toward the Canadian Maritime Provinces by Saturday night. Based on this forecast track, Arthur will make its closest approach to the New Jersey and Delaware coasts on Friday and is expected to be about 200 to 250 miles offshore.

• A cold front moving into the region today will become nearly stationary over the area into Thursday night. Severe weather is possible into this evening. Then as tropical moisture from Arthur moves north along this front, showers and thunderstorms are expected to produce heavy rain Thursday afternoon into early Friday. Showers and thunderstorms should taper off on Friday as Arthur moves away from the area.

• Showers and thunderstorms Thursday into Friday could be slow moving with heavy rainfall. Some flash flooding is possible where thunderstorms stall or train over the same regions. A flash flood watch has been issued for portions of the area. While river flooding is not anticipated, small stream and urban flooding is possible in the flood watch area.

• Wind and tides are not expected to be major issues with this event, but will continue to be monitored. Wind speeds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 30 mph along the coast with lesser speeds inland…Thursday night into Friday.
• Rip currents will also be a MAJOR threat throughout the July 4th holiday weekend, even though after Friday, the rest of the weekend looks quite nice.

• This is NOT Super Storm Sandy or Irene. No landfall is expected in New Jersey or Delaware. Stay tuned for the latest information at www.weather.gov/phi.楳