Daily Weather Update from FOX Weather: Washington, Baltimore face flood threat after Miami smashes rain record
A slow-moving but potent storm system that slammed the Southeast with torrential rain and severe weather is finally inching its way toward the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, putting millions of people in cities like Washington and Baltimore at risk of flash flooding.
Noaa's Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has highlighted portions of several states where there's a risk of flooding from the Southeast and Ohio Valley to the Northeast. However, the WPC placed areas of the mid-Atlantic, including Washington and Baltimore, in a Level 2 out of 4 threat of flash flooding on Tuesday.
The FOX Forecast Center said that rain totals are expected to be highest in the mid-Atlantic over the next few days, but parts of the Northeast could also pick up a few inches of rain by the time this latest system moves out of the region.
Miami shattered a daily rain record Monday, as rounds of heavy rain flooded streets in the metro area and across large portions of Central and South Florida.
The system responsible for the rounds of rain is now offshore, but deep tropical moisture from the Gulf remains in place and could bring scattered showers to the Sunshine State through Tuesday afternoon.
Miami tallied 4.35 inches of rain on Monday, breaking the city's daily record for May 12 of 2.72 inches, set in 1943.
Areas of western North Carolina still in recovery mode due to the deadly destruction caused by Hurricane Helene last year were again on alert for flash flooding Monday as a potent storm system brought rounds of torrential rain and thunderstorms to communities across the Southeast and mid-Atlantic.
The FOX Forecast Center said the threat came from the same system that brought flooding rain and severe weather, including reports of tornadoes and waterspouts, to cities along the Gulf Coast over the weekend.
The Kilauea volcano has erupted for the 21st time in the last five months. This latest episode is part of an eruption that began Dec. 23, 2024.
According to the U.s. Geological Survey (USGS), these eruptions have been separated by brief pauses in activity since then. The breaks can last anywhere between 24 hours and 12 days. Kilauea paused again by Monday.
Video footage from the USGS showed the volcano burst with lava, as the molten liquid splattered along the dark, charred mountain like paint on a blank canvas. Each burst of lava splashed along the mountain, creating a larger crater atop the main vent of the volcano.
Here are a few more stories you might find interesting.
Rainbow Bridge destroyed by Hurricane Helene rebuilt in Western North Carolina
See it: Basketball-sized meteor lights up Western Australia night sky
Metal detector leads to silver surprise of ancient Romanian coins for man on nature walk
Need more weather? Check your local forecast plus 3D radar in the FOX Weather app. You can also watch FOX Weather wherever you go using the FOX Weather app, at FOXWeather.com/live or on your favorite streaming service.Original article source: Daily Weather Update from FOX Weather: Washington, Baltimore face flood threat after Miami smashes rain record
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Erin: Coastal flooding at high tides forecast in Carolinas, Virginia
(The Center Square) – High tide peak storm surges from Hurricane Erin are forecast from 1 to 3 feet between South Carolina and Virginia, and 2 to 4 feet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Erin at 8 a.m. Wednesday was Category 2 at 100 mph maximum sustained winds and moving 13 mph to the north-northwest, having started to make the turn away from the mainland as expected. The National Hurricane Center, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the storm's center was 645 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, and 900 miles west-southwest of Bermuda. Veteran meteorologists have marveled at the size of the storm. Hurricane force winds (74 mph or greater) extend outward 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds (39 mph or greater) extend 265 miles from the center. Rain for the Carolina coast is just 1 to 2 inches Wednesday and into Thursday, with damage coming more from storm surge than rain or wind. The next high tides on the Outer Banks are 6:18 p.m. Wednesday, and Thursday at 6:45 a.m. and 7:10 p.m. Erin has already sent Atlantic Ocean water over dunes and N.C. 12, the famed 148-mile roadway linking peninsulas and islands of the Outer Banks. Mandatory evacuations have been issued for Ocracoke Island in Hyde County and Hatteras Island in Dare County. Each county has declared an emergency. Storm surge warnings were in effect from Cape Lookout to Duck; a tropical storm warning was in effect from Beaufort Inlet to the Virginia border inclusive of the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds; and a tropical storm watch was in effect from the North Carolina-Virginia border to Chincoteague, Va. The Wednesday evening high tide for coastal South Carolina, including Charleston, and southern North Carolina is being closely watched for flooding. Early Thursday evening is the expected time of coastal flooding from the southern Delmarva Peninsula and southern Chesapeake Bay down to eastern North Carolina. The storm's projected path through the weekend skirts parallel to moving more away from the Atlantic Seaboard. Thursday's pass is by the Carolinas and Virginia, and Friday the storm will be moving by Maine. Coastal rescues from rip currents in North Carolina, according to published reports, have numbered between 75 and 100 over Monday and Tuesday. As often happens with hurricanes, water began to run over N.C. 12 on Tuesday. The highway begins at U.S. 70 at the community of Sea Level and runs to a point just north of Corolla and south of the Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. Two ferries, Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island, are part of the route. The storm's landfall miss of the state is particularly welcome in light of Hurricane Helene. Recovery from that storm is in its 47th week. Helene killed 107 in the state, 236 across seven states in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to North Carolina.
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Outer Banks braces for 'sadness and devastation' as Hurricane Erin roars by
The sandy, vulnerable barrier islands on North Carolina's coast may see houses swept away and a vital roadway flooded — yet again. The center of Hurricane Erin will roar past North Carolina's Outer Banks at a distance of less than 300 miles, setting up a vulnerable region for an intense battering as forecasters warn of two-story waves towering in the ocean and storm surge rushing inland that could destroy dunes, threaten beachfront houses and flood roads. The ribbon of narrow, barrier islands is home to tens of thousands of permanent residents, but its population swells during the summer and more than 2 million people visit the region yearly. The Outer Banks' remote beaches, dunes and oceanfront houses, are among the "most dynamic natural landscapes occupied by man," U.S. Geological Survey scientists wrote in 2016. As Erin tracked north, surfers took advantage of the building swells and others evacuated along Highway 12, the sole highway that connects the Outer Banks. Officials warned the road – known to flood even during seasonal high tides – could be impassable for days. Long popular with beach dwellers and tourists for its scenic vistas and remote ambiance, the Outer Banks have more recently become known for the homes on eroded beaches that collapse into the ocean during hurricanes, winter nor'easters and other tidal events. But islanders say the videos can't convey the enormous complexities of the challenges their communities face. Connected by the highway, the islands jut out into the ocean along a narrow point of the continental shelf, making them particularly vulnerable to high water, waves and the powerful forces of the ocean. 'It probably gets the highest wave energy on the East Coast south of Nantucket and Cape Cod,' said Rob Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University. 'You can capture waves from so many directions.' As the center of Erin passes about 270 miles east of Cape Hatteras, the hurricane is expected to generate large breaking waves of 8 to 20 feet in the surf zone. Those waves could be on top of a sea surging as much as 4 feet above dry ground, causing erosion and coastal flooding that could go on for days. Outer Banks native Danny Couch couldn't remember when they were last hit with 20-foot waves, but he thinks the waves might be comparable to Hurricane Isabel in 2003, a historic storm that made landfall over the North Carolina coast. Nearly a year ago to the day, Hurricane Ernesto followed a similar path, even further offshore. Within weeks, four houses collapsed. In total, six houses were lost last year in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, federally protected land which stretches for miles along the beaches of this island chain. If another house, or two or three, are lost to the sea in Erin's wake, it's sure to stir up another storm among the residents and property owners over how to address this peril from the sea. Challenges like this are "everywhere," not just on the Outer Banks, Young said. For example, he pointed to communities along the Northeast Florida coast, in Flagler and St. Johns counties, which face similar issues with abandoned homes now surrounded by water during high tide events. Systems are 'out of equilibrium with where the shoreline would naturally be," he said. 'Sought after, treasured and costly' Geologist Orrin Pilkey once wrote that barrier islands – 'the most dynamic real estate in the United States – are the most sought after, treasured and costly.' The islands that became the Outer Banks fringing the North Carolina coast first appeared 15,000 years ago, when sea levels dropped and the nation's shoreline migrated inward from the continental shelf, Young said. Couch was just a boy when he first saw a home fall into the ocean. It was 1968, said the real estate agent and former county commissioner. A few more houses collapsed in the early 1970s, Couch said. Since the 1990s, the pace of collapse has picked up. 'It's not an isolated occurrence anymore, it's the new normal," Couch said. "When you're a kid, watching with your friends, it's exciting,' he said. 'But you're watching someone's life savings headed into the ocean.' Eleven homes have collapsed within the national seashore in Rodanthe since May 2020, according to the national seashore. And it's no longer just houses that were built directly on the beach. Dare County property records show some of the now-threatened homes were originally a few houses off the beach. Erosion from both sides 'There's always been shoreline change,' but not nearly as rapid as what we've seen over the last two to three decades," Young said. "That is a result of sea level rise.' 'Changing sea levels drive shoreline change,' he said. But, he adds: 'It's really important to remember the problem is not shoreline change. The problem is us wanting to be in those places.' As the water is likely to demonstrate as Erin batters the coast, the islands face threats not only from the ocean, but also from the large bodies of water to the west, the Albemarle, Pamlico and Currituck Sounds. Water levels also are rising in those waterways. At the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, across the sounds from the barrier islands, the land bears visible markers of rising sea levels, such as remnants of a dock that mark where the edge of the land used to be, and scrubby freshwater lowlands that are transitioning to salty coastal marsh. The waterways – also subject to wind and surge – can wash over Highway 12 toward the ocean during storms and high tide events. The islands suffer erosion from both directions, according to a December report from the National Park Service over how to address the impacts of the threatened structures. In some spots, the spit of land that holds the highway can be less than 1,000 feet from sound to sea and shrinking. Officials have been trying to hold the highway in place since it was built, Young said. Protecting it is getting harder and more expensive all the time, he said. Myriad other legal and insurance issues surround decisions about when a private home can be condemned and the rights of property owners and landlords who make money on summer rentals in many of the threatened homes. The issues include debate over whether insurers should pay for a condemned home to be dismantled before it becomes a hazardous waste site with septic lines, siding and shingles washing into the ocean, and conflict over the use of rock revetments and seawalls, which some coastal scientists have concluded make the problems worse in the long run. Shoring up dunes with sand isn't always the solution to beach protection either, and has disrupted natural processes that help to sustain the islands, according to the report. Some communities find their multi-million-dollar beach renourishment projects aren't lasting as long as they'd hoped, Young said. Big storms can wash away tons of sand in a matter of hours. Local, state and federal officials have worked on remedies for decades, including multiple dredging projects and new bridges, but still they wage the battle against sand and sea. Incredible erosion Dare County, home to an estimated yearround population of an estimated 37,000, has paid for its own projects to restore sand to local beaches, Young said. But in Rodanthe, where 11 houses have collapsed in the national seashore since May 2020, he said the county turned down a request to do another beach restoration. 'We're going to have to start having conversations about where we can take a step back from the oceanfront on the Outer Banks," Young said. He makes it clear he's not suggesting the Outer Banks be abandoned. 'It's just that we need to be spending our money in the places that are actually sustainable,' he said, 'and make sure we're not wasting money on places we're going to have to walk away from anyway.' Resident and professional photographer Jenni Koontz documents the change. Through her lenses, she sees the beauty of a glassy ocean and rolling waves and 'the sadness and devastation' that can occur in just one day when rough seas arrive. Some people find it difficult to comprehend the incredible erosion that has taken place and how quickly the sand can disappear, then jump to conclusions when they see viral videos, she said. 'People don't understand the science behind the photos,' she said. She hopes that over time her photos will help bring more attention to the plight of the Outer Banks, and perhaps make a difference for its future. Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, has covered violent weather, the environment, climate change and other news for decades. Reach her at dpulver@ or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.
Miami Herald
5 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Walls of water 30 feet high churned up by Hurricane Erin. See NOAA buoy photos
Stomach-churning images taken from weather buoys in the Atlantic Ocean show Category 2 Hurricane Erin is creating walls of water in the open ocean as it spins along the East Coast. Thirty-foot waves have been reported by NOAA buoys 60 miles from the eye of the storm, which is equivalent to a three-story building racing across the ocean. The waves are being driven by sustained winds of 100 mph, with even higher gusts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Aug. 20. Multiple parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks have been evacuated as the storm nears the fragile barrier islands, due to predictions of 'life-threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline.' The eye will not make landfall in the U.S., but the U.S. Geological Survey predicts'water levels could be 10 feet (3 meters) above Mean Sea Level' in Outer Banks areas like Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, according to an Aug. 18 news release. The storm was moving north/northwest at around 13 mph early Wednesday, Aug. 20, NOAA reports.
