Tropical Storm Chantal highlights growing threat of quickly forming tropical weather
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Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill's Eastgate Crossing, a shopping center hit hard by Chantal. Photo: Courtesy of Jesse Soloff
Tropical Storm Chantal might have had the perfect recipe for catching people unawares: It formed rapidly (only reaching tropical storm status on Saturday) over a holiday weekend and moved slowly while dropping torrential rain.
Why it matters: That proved to be an especially damaging combination — breaking dams in Moore County, flooding roads, homes and businesses in Chapel Hill, killing at least one person in Chatham County and sending the Haw River to record crests.
- It's also one that North Carolina residents will need to watch out for more frequently.
What they're saying: "The pattern and the way [Chantal] approached us ought to be setting off the alarm bells," Corey Davis, an assistant state climatologist for the State Climate Office, told Axios.
- With this storm and many of the most damaging ones in recent North Carolina history, he added, it's been all about excessive rain and rather than wind speeds.
- "And we know that with climate change and warming [oceans] storms are able to hold more moisture, and they're going to drop that moisture as heavier rainfall as it gets inland," he said.
- Last fall, Hurricane Helene moved quickly after making landfall but brought record rainfall.
Driving the news: Davis said North Carolina is increasingly witnessing tropical storms that have the characteristics of severe thunderstorms, with small cells within the storms dropping excessive rain in some places but not others.
- On Sunday, just a few miles could make a few difference, with parts of Orange County seeing more than seven inches of rain in a 12-hour period, while parts of Durham, only a short drive away, got two to three inches.
- In that way, the storm was similar to last year's Potential Tropical Cyclone 8, which dropped 20 inches on Carolina Beach, and Tropical Storm Debby, which dumped large amounts of rain across parts of southeastern North Carolina.
The latest: Thousands of customers were still without power as of Monday afternoon, according to Duke Energy.
- Crews on Monday were still searching for two kayakers who went missing on Jordan Lake Sunday.
- Over 100 roads were closed across North Carolina due to Chantal, WRAL reported.
Between the lines: It's shaping up to be an especially busy hurricane season in the Atlantic, with Chantal becoming the third named storm.
- NOAA is forecasting an above-normal season, with 13-19 named storms predicted, Axios previously reported.
- "This is really pretty early in the season to get our third named storm," Davis said. "We're still over two months away from the peak of the season, so I think what this tells us is there's more where this came from."
