Anna, Bill, Claudette, Danny and Elsa; all hurricanes that have missed North Carolina. Now it’s Hurricane Fred that has weather watchers on edge.
Early tracking forecasts show the storm may be headed up the east coast of Cuba today with winds touching the southern tip of Florida by 8 p.m. Friday.
If the predictions hold, North Carolina could feel Fred’s strength as a tropical storm on Monday afternoon or evening.
“Right now it’s a tropical depression, but there are indications that it will reform as a hurricane before it reaches Florida,” said Mike Strickler, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh. “There’s a good chance it may break up before it reaches us.”
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In that case, North Carolina residents will have dodged heavy rain and wind speeds up to 73 miles per hour, which commonly accompany storms such as Fred.
As of mid-day Thursday, the National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center’s five-day forecast showed the possibility of the storm moving up the west side of Florida then pushing due north into Alabama and/or Georgia.
Forecasters said there is a likelihood that the storm would drop in intensity to tropical storm status or even a tropical depression as it moves inland through the Carolinas.
Where Fred goes after the weekend is still very uncertain, but the possibility remains that the storm could bring heavy rain and winds through the Fayetteville area.
The National Weather Service forecast for the greater Fayetteville area calls for showers on Monday under mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature near 83. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent.
Monday night is expected to bring a 40 percent chance of showers under mostly cloudy skies.
The only other big storm to cross over the Fayetteville area since the start of the 2021 hurricane season was Hurricane Elsa, which had dropped in strength to tropical storm conditions when it arrived in early July.
Find more detail at the National Hurricane Center online site.
To wrap up the first day, attendees were able to meet up for a social event at the Brad Halling American Whiskey Ko. in Southern Pines where a $10,000 check was presented to the Joint Special Operations Foundation for their scholarship fund. Photo pr
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Image provided by FTCCFocused on building the local workforce and streamlining the education process through real world learning, the Hope, Opportunity, Prosperity through Education Program at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC), also kno
