NC, SC could get swiped by hurricane for first time this season as storm strengthens

The Carolinas could see their first hurricane of the season on Monday, as Tropical Storm Chris strengthens.

Chris was upgraded from a tropical depression to a tropical storm on Sunday.

The storm was sitting nearly still off the South Carolina coast on Sunday, about 160 miles south of Cape Hatteras. It was expected to move slowly up the coast this week.

While the storm was not expected to make landfall as of Sunday afternoon, it will bring "life threatening" rough surf and dangerous rip currents along the East Coast, the weather service said.

The storm was expected to strengthen to a hurricane by about 8 a.m. on Monday. It was set to travel north toward North Carolina by Monday evening.

There was high threat of dangerous rip currents north of Cape Lookout, according to the National Weather Service's Newport/Morehead City office.

Very rough surf and strong shore breaks were expected for beaches north of Cape Lookout on Sunday.

As a tropical storm, Chris has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph with higher gusts, according to the National Weather Service. Tropical storms can have winds reaching 73 mph.

Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the storm's center.

Chris is expected to continue to strengthen.

A Category 1 hurricane has wind speeds from 74 mph to 95 mph, according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHS).

Hurricane Beryl had been downgraded to a tropical storm by Sunday and was still on track toward Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean islands.

This story was originally published July 8, 2018 at 12:50 PM with the headline "NC, SC could get swiped by hurricane for first time this season as storm strengthens."