Irma will spread wind, rain in Rock Hill area Monday

Forecasters say Hurricane Irma will bring a period of windy, rainy weather to the Rock Hill area Monday and early Tuesday.

There also will be a small chance of tornadoes, and winds could be strong enough to cause some power outages in counties just west of the area.

Irma is forecast to make landfall Sunday night in Florida’s Panhandle, then track northwest across western Georgia and Alabama. The Rock Hill area will be on the eastern edge of the sprawling storm – close enough for wind and rain.

On Sunday, a number of watches and advisories were posted across South Carolina:

▪ A High Wind Watch for the western Upstate, from Cherokee County westward, where winds Monday and Monday night could gust to 50 mph or stronger.

▪ A Lake Wind Advisory for the Midlands, with wind gusts to 40 or 45 mph.

▪ An Inland Tropical Storm Warning for the Lowcountry.

The Lake Wind Advisory includes Lancaster County, which is covered by the National Weather Service office in Columbia. York and Chester counties, covered by the Weather Service’s Greer office, could be included in a Wind Advisory later Sunday and Monday.

High clouds in advance of Irma began streaming into the Rock Hill area Sunday morning and were expected to thicken by evening. Rain from the storm is forecast to arrive by late morning Monday and possibly intensify Monday night. The rain should end by midday Tuesday, forecasters said.

The Weather Service’s Rodney Hinson said the westward adjustment of Irma’s forecast track has lowered the amount of rainfall expected in the area. He said forecasters now predict about 1.5 inches for the Rock Hill region.

Breezy conditions began Sunday, due to the interaction between a high pressure system over New England and the circulation from Irma. Those winds are expected to increase to 20 mph Monday, with gusts to between 30 and 40 mph.

Hinson said tornadoes will remain a threat Monday and possibly Tuesday but he added that probabilities “will be difficult to nail down for another day.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2017 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Irma will spread wind, rain in Rock Hill area Monday."