Hurricane Matthew Update 10-6-16 @ 9am

Good morning, everyone.  Here is this morning’s update from Bill Sammler, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wakefield:

“Attached [see slides online here] is the latest briefing for Hurricane Matthew. Track-wise, very little change from yesterday afternoon. Little to no change in the wind/coastal flooding forecast for our area. However, the northern edge of the heavier rainfall from Matthew is expected to get further north than anticipated yesterday, with amounts in the 1.5" to 4" range now forecast across NE NC and portions of Hampton Roads. These rainfall amounts could produce some flooding in these areas. The magnitude of any flooding will be dependent upon the intensity of the rainfall, and the amount of rainfall. At this time, we do not expect widespread flooding, since the rain will fall over an 18-24 hour period from Friday night through Saturday night. But, recent heavy rainfall over the last 2 weeks has left the ground very wet to saturated, and streams/rivers are still higher than normal. Thus, a 2" to 4" rainfall could lead to at least some minor flooding.”

I am also including two snapshots of the hourly graph showing chance of rain up to 85% Saturday morning around 8am, which will likely remain throughout the day and into Sunday.  A breezy day with wind gusts up to 40mph still expected Sunday between 8am to 4pm.  This still has the potential for a few downed trees which our 911 center will monitor and enter into STORM.  Somewhat breezy still on Monday; however, no impacts to City services or operations anticipated at this time.

Norfolk remains under a coastal flood advisory until 4pm this afternoon.  The attached tide chart below shows this afternoon’s 1:09pm high tide approaching the minor flood stage at 4.5’.  This will again cause nuisance flooding in the usual areas.

Speaking of STORM, this is an ideal scenario to roll out our STORM Mobile program among the Team.  Check out https://www.youtube.com/embed/hSDYnkXTcYs?rel=0 and http://www.13newsnow.com/weather/norfolk-launches-storm-mobile-app/265196301.  Hurricane Matthew is an ideal opportunity to gain more familiarity and put this tool to work now versus waiting to do so during a more catastrophic incident.  Norfolk EOC will monitor for submissions received over the weekend.

Thanks and have a great day!

Jim
Director, Norfolk EOC