Another storm is threatening the Carolinas. In fact, we’re already feeling its effects. I’m Mike Davis and I’m talking with Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis from the State Climate Office of North Carolina. What can you tell us about Helene, and what can we expect? How long is this going to be around?
“Well, Mike, this has been a very rapidly intensifying storm over the past couple of days. It first formed back on Tuesday. Was just a low level tropical storm for most of the day on Tuesday, and then what we saw on Wednesday, and then yesterday was that rapid strengthening becoming a hurricane, and then a major hurricane before it made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida.”
Let’s take a look at this from an agricultural perspective, because we are well into harvest season now. How do you see the crops being affected by this in the Carolinas?
“The one crop that is just really poorly timed for is the cotton you know, we talked last month after Tropical Storm Debbie, that even as a low level tropical storm, the winds from that have been actually twisted. Some of the cotton crops and the farmers down in South Carolina have still been noticing those effects over the past few weeks. It’s just not something that corrected itself here over the past month or so, but now you’re looking at an even stronger storm with Helene that’s moving in. The cotton at this point has seen most of those bowls that are opening, but it’s not quite ready to harvest just yet. And even with a few days notice this week, there’s really nothing the farmers could do to start pulling that cotton out of the field. It’s just not ready. Usually, this is the time where the farmers are starting to defoliate the leaves from the cotton. Well, Helene may give them a hand with that. Will the cotton that’s out in the fields withstand the winds that? We’re going to see here over the next day or so.”
Are we talking about all of the Carolinas feeling the effect of Helene? And you know how much and for how long?
“Yeah, we’re certainly looking at the potential for widespread rainfall all across the Carolinas. Again, those highest totals are going to be further west as you go east. From there, we’re looking at lower values generally, probably less than an inch right along the coastline. But if you’re in the western half of South Carolina or the mountains of North Carolina, you could see three, four, five inches or more from this event over the next few days, and of course, we’ve already started to see some of that rain move in.”