Danny was still a tropical storm this morning, but barely.  Hurricane hunters flew into Danny earlier and found a disorganized system with winds around 40mph near the center.  Remember, you need 39mph winds to have a tropical storm.  So it was almost downgraded to a depression.  That is great news.  Also, there is some pretty good wind shear biting at Danny from the West.  It looks like there is some pretty good shear north of its location too.  That may keep Danny from strengthening much further, despite it being over warm Gulf Stream Waters.  Check out this grahic:

This is a water vapor image. It’s basically the water content in the upper level of the atmosphere.  It’s almost like taking an x-ray of big storms.  I’ve also put some arrows on there representing the winds/shear.   There is an upper level low over Atlanta that will bump Danny out to sea.  Danny is expected to start moving north then northeast later today.  Danny’s movement and formation has been erratic.  So it wouldn’t surprise me if Danny throws us a couple more curveballs before he’s done.  We do need to stay tuned.  Here’ the latest track of Danny:

You can see that the center of of the storm is expected to pass by about 100-200 miles offshore.  If it follows this course, then we should have minimal impacts on the area.  We will have some big waves for the East Coast Surfing Championship this weekend, But we will also have a high threat for rip currents.  On Saturday Danny will be moving away.  So we won’t have the southeasterly swells that we will see today and tonight.  As far as winds go…  There is a tropical storm watch from Duck N.C. down to Hatteras.  That is mostly in case Danny changes his track.  If it does track further west, then a warning may be posted.  For now I’m expecting some wind gusts to around 30mph on the Outer Banks. That’s about it.  Tidal flooding should not be an issue.  We will see scattered showers and storms this afternoon.  Mostly from the thick moisture, not from Danny itself.  Dewpoints are in the mid-upper 70s.  (77 here at the station).  That’s high.  We could see some more street flooding in a few areas, so be on the lookout. 

After this system moves on, we will look forward to a cold front which will bring us some relief from the heat and humidity.  Highs next week are expected to be in the upper 70s to lower 80s. Much lower humidity.  Sounds like football weather to me.  Here’s the latest 7 day forecast:

Meteoroligst: Jeremy Wheeler