Forecasters have downgraded the flash flood threat in the Rock Hill area but say the remnants of Hurricane Harvey still could pose a severe weather threat Friday.
And meteorologists are keeping a wary eye on quickly-intensifying Hurricane Irma, which some computer models predict will pose a threat to the U.S. Southeast coast or the Gulf of Mexico near the end of next week.
The center of what once was Harvey was moving northward across western Tennessee on Thursday. The counter-clockwise flow around the system brought several rounds of showers into Georgia and the western Carolinas, and more of that is expected through Friday morning.
Meteorologists say on Friday they will watch for the possible formation of a boundary stretching east to west, somewhere in the Carolinas Piedmont. That boundary, separating cooler and more stable air to the north from tropical air full of Harvey’s moisture to the south, would be a trigger for severe weather.
“Confidence is building in a tornado threat Friday afternoon into early evening, especially where that wedge boundary sets up,” National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Kimball said, referring to the boundary expected to form.
The threat of bad weather Friday evening led a number of area high schools to reschedule football games. South Pointe will play Rock Hill on Saturday.
The Weather Service said it expects 1.5-2 inches of rain by Saturday morning in the Rock Hill area.
Showers and thunderstorms are predicted to end early Saturday, yielding pleasant – although humid – conditions for the rest of the Labor Day weekend.
High temperatures are expected to reach the low 80s Saturday, then into the mid 80s Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma was centered about 1,800 miles east of the Windward Islands on Thursday afternoon. Forecasters expect the storm to intensify to a 130-mph hurricane by next Tuesday morning. At that time, it would be nearing islands in the eastern Caribbean.
Computer models continue to depict a future track for Irma that would take the storm into the Caribbean, and then move northwest toward the United States. Forecasters say it is far too early to predict the storm’s possible impact.
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