She’s certainly no hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of around 45 mph (75 kph), but her arrival signals an early start to the Atlantic storm season.
Miami’s National Hurricane Center logged in its first named storm of the season at 11:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday May 9, a good three weeks before the more or less official beginning of the hurricane season in June.
Originally classified as a “subtropical storm,” Andrea has now been downgraded to a “subtropical depression.” Nonetheless the NHC is maintaining a “tropical storm watch” along the U.S. southeastern coast from Altamaha Sound in Georgia southward to Flagler Beach, Florida.
As of 11:00 a.m. EDT Andrea was about 135 miles/215 kms southeast of Savannah Georgia and about 115 miles/185 kms northeast of Daytona Beach, Florida. The NHC bulletin described the storm as “nearly stationary,” adding that, “no significant motion is expected during the next 24 hours.” Andrea is expected to weaken further over that period.
Weak as she may be, Andrea is still a storm with winds of tropical storm force extending outward up to 105 miles/165 kms to the east of the center. The NHC said Andrea is “expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 1 to 2 inches along coastal areas of the southeastern U.S.” with “isolated maximum amounts of about 3 inches” possible in some rainbands.
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