New York City witnesses its driest month since records began in 1869

It's official: October 2024 was New York City's driest month in recorded history.

Any record in New York City is exceptional given that Central Park has one of the longest periods of record in the United States, with regular observations stretching all the way back to January 1869.

The city's observation station only picked up a measly 0.01" of rain during a light shower on October 29, which was the only measurable precipitation recorded there during the entire month. Given that scant amount of rainfall, the city has never witnessed a completely dry month devoid of any measurable precipitation.

A short drive down I-95 finds the longest dry streak on record in Philadelphia, where records began back in 1871. The city has gone 34 days without measurable precipitation as of November 1, and they're likely going to pad that streak heading into next week.

October 2024 was also Philadelphia's first month on record without any measurable precipitation. Previously, the city's driest-ever month was October 1963, during which they saw only 0.09" of rain.

This isn't just a regional lack of precipitation. As I outlined last week, most of the United States was unusually dry through the month of October save for a few select locations.

The latest update of the United States Drought Monitor found that 87.16% of the country was abnormally dry or mired in some level of drought.

This is the greatest area of aridity the USDM has ever measured since they started keeping track in January 2000.

A pattern shift heading deeper into November should reverse the trend a bit, especially in the Midwest and across the southern Plains. However, it's likely that ridging will continue to dominate the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, bringing above-seasonal temperatures and drier-than-normal conditions to the region for a few more weeks.

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Fake hurricanes, denied aid: This election is about reality versus conspiracy theories

How sad.

How sad that someone at NOAA had to spend the time workshopping, writing, and approving a statement assuring the public that we can’t control the weather. How sad that the lie exists at all. How sad that people are so willing to believe that lie. How sad that people in the highest reaches of power are willing to fan the flames of that lie. 

But that's been our mantra for the past decade: How sad.

It's now or never

Conspiracy theories and outright lies that used to fester on the sidelines are now mainstream schools of thought among folks who are desperate to confirm their beliefs and suspicions. This kind of frightening detachment from reality has always been a nagging undertow running beneath society, but it’s gotten so much worse over the past decade.

It starts at the top. Tuesday, November 5, 2024, may be our last meaningful chance to reject this rot that’s eating away at the core reality that binds us together as a country.

RELATED:
Conspiracy theories are security blankets for scared adults, and they’re suffocating us

Every election is pitched as “the most important of our lifetime.” But there have been precious few moments in American history when we’ve faced a crossroads over our shared sense of reality. It’s not just a question of what policies we want—it’s a question of whether we exist in the same universe or not.

If you think things are bad now, it's almost assuredly going to get worse if the nation’s foremost conspiracy theorist and unabashed liar is elected to sit behind the Resolute Desk again.

Endless lies

It’s not a partisan statement to call Donald Trump a conspiracy theorist and unabashed liar. He’s proven time and time again that he’s more than willing and handily able to create his own reality when the real world doesn’t suit his needs.

Let’s leave aside Trump's 34 felony convictions and attempted coup d’etat—and just stick to the weather.

The former president’s tenuous grip on reality is exemplified by his fraught relationship with the field of meteorology.

His very first lie upon entering office on January 20, 2017, involved the new president telling a group of supporters that it didn’t rain on his inauguration—even though video clearly showed it raining about one minute into his address. It's the avalanche of little lies that pave the way for the big lies.

Trump drew on a NHC forecast map to extend the cone to Alabama on Sept. 1, 2019

He mistakenly warned Alabama that Hurricane Dorian would be “much worse than anticipated,” then used a Sharpie to alter a National Hurricane Center forecast map rather than admit he was wrong. The fracas ended with the White House threatening to fire NOAA’s leadership if they didn’t participate in the ensuing coverup.

He proposed slashing more than $75,000,000 from the National Weather Service's budget in 2020, which would have fired 250 meteorologists, curtailed critical surface and upper-air weather observations, and ended a valuable research project to study tornadoes in the southeastern U.S.

He issued a controversial pardon while Category 4 Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas because he “assumed ratings would be far higher” while people were already watching the news.

He delayed meaningful aid to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria by conditioning billions of dollars in disaster aid on political goals like prohibiting the island from raising the minimum wage, and implied that further aid to the island was contingent upon the territory's political leadership showing "appreciation" for him.

He opposed sending federal aid to California during the state’s deadly 2018 wildfire season because it’s a heavily Democratic state. He reportedly only agreed to send aid after finding out he won the counties affected by the wildfires.

He did the same exact thing with Washington state—only they didn't receive their disaster aid until Trump left office.

And those are just the lowlights of his four-year term.

Lies are a group effort

One of his biggest supporters in Congress—who once questioned if California’s wildfires were started by Jewish-controlled space lasers—accused an unnamed "they" of controlling the weather in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Milton on October 7, 2024

She certainly wasn’t alone herself in fanning the flames of that bizarre conspiracy theory. So many folks took to social media with cult-like fervor to accuse the government of controlling the weather to punish red states that meteorologists received death threats over the ordeal and NOAA had to dedicate time and resources to debunking the false claims.

Again…how sad.

A high-stakes outcome      

We know what happened before. But what are the consequences of a second Trump administration? Let's bypass everything else and keep sticking to the weather.

Project 2025, his potential administration's blueprint for a second term, calls for restoring Schedule F to remove protections from civil service employees. This change would make vast swaths of federal workers fireable by the White House.

Remember Sharpiegate? Under that proposed plan, he likely could've fired every meteorologist at NWS Birmingham for not playing along with his coverup. This could jeopardize any of the career scientists who work for NOAA if they unknowingly run afoul of the administration's will.

Trump would likely see his party in control of both chambers of Congress. This grip on power would afford him the opportunity to make those $75,000,000+ in cuts to the National Weather Service, following through on what he tried to do during his final year in office.

An emboldened Trump would come into office knowing he would face no real consequences for his actions. Firings, squashed investigations, denying aid, drawing on weather forecasts, interfering with research—everything is on the table when nobody is around to say 'stop.' 

And then there's the presidency as a role model for everyday Americans. He would again use the highest office in the land to trumpet lies and conspiracy theories about every topic under the sun, including the weather.

Bad hurricanes, lethal tornadoes, and devastating floods will happen during the next president's four years in office. He'd have his say in the messaging and response to those disasters—just as he did during Dorian, just as he did during the wildfires, and just as his entire orbit did during Helene and Milton.

If you think it's bad now how many lies and conspiracy theories everyday people are bouncing around on social media, wait until their most powerful enabler sits in the Oval Office again.

The real world is scary enough without making stuff up

Conspiracy theories are security blankets for adults frightened by a rapidly changing and interconnected world in which bad things sometimes happen. It's scary and upsetting that tornadoes and hurricanes and wildfires can wipe away entire communities in moments.

It’s more comforting to believe that bad things happen because bad people are making them happen. If bad things aren’t random—if bad things are controlled by bad people—then we might have a chance to stop those tornadoes from forming, to stop that hurricane from hitting land, and to keep those wildfires from charring everything we’ve known and loved.

Unfortunately, a growing percentage of the American public has fallen so detached from reality that they’re unwilling or completely unable to believe that the real world doesn’t work that way. They’re more eager to believe that their perceived enemies control hurricanes than they are to accept basic elementary school meteorology.

There is one presidential candidate willing and eager to allow that alternate universe to flourish, to shred the reality that binds our society together in order to get what he wants.

This is too important. Please don't let him succeed.

[Image of the White House courtesy of Unsplash.]

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New York City may soon set the record for its longest dry streak in 155 years

New York City has one of the longest sets of detailed weather records in the United States. An observation station has been continually active in Central Park since 1869, just four years after the end of the Civil War. 

That historical depth makes any all-time records a noteworthy occurrence in New York City, and we could be nearing one of those milestones in the next week or two. The city may soon set a record for its longest dry streak ever observed.

Despite two major hurricanes making landfall in the southeast, it's been an exceptionally dry few months over most of the United States. The latest update of the U.S. Drought Monitor tells the tale: 77 percent of the U.S. is abnormally dry or mired in some level of drought, including a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic states.

We haven't seen measurable precipitation at New York's Central Park since September 29th.

Every day since then has been dry as a bone—and the forecast doesn't have much hope for measurable rain in the next five to seven days. 

This is quickly turning into one of the city's driest spells on record. The period from September 29 through October 21 made for 22 days without a drop of rain falling in the gauge. The ongoing dry spell will rapidly start ticking up this chart as the arid days wear on.

If current forecasts hold, we're likely going to secure the #2 spot before Halloween. Toppling the all-time record of 36 consecutive dry days is a tall order.

Why so long without rain? Persistent ridges of high pressure building over the Northeast have deflected rainmaking systems to the north and south, preventing precipitation from ever reaching New York City. This familiar pattern will likely continue for at least the next seven days. 

[Satellite: NOAA]

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Dangerous, historic Hurricane Milton will grow before hitting Florida

Hurricane Milton continues to grow in size as it heads toward landfall on Florida's west coast during the latter half of the day on Wednesday.

The storm explosively intensified into a scale-topping Category 5 storm on Monday, becoming the fifth-most intense storm ever measured in the Atlantic basin in terms of minimum central air pressure.

A reconnaissance flight into the storm on Monday evening found that its pressure had dropped to 897 mb shortly before 8:00 p.m. EDT, which is lower than every Atlantic hurricane ever observed except for just four others.

The storm has since undergone an eyewall replacement cycle, a process through which a newer, larger eye forms and replaces the old one. Hurricanes tend to both weaken and grow in size during an eyewall replacement cycle. 

A favorable environment and very warm waters have allowed Milton to restrengthen a bit on Tuesday. Forecasters found that the storm had maximum winds of 155 mph on Tuesday afternoon.

Milton is expected to grow in size before slamming into Florida's west-central coast as a major hurricane on Wednesday evening.

Despite the storm's maximum winds decreasing slightly before landfall, this will remain a large and powerful storm and its destructive storm surge is essentially baked in at this point.

A wide swath of the Florida peninsula is under a hurricane warning, including Tampa, Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Fort Myers. Damaging winds will spread far inland as Milton makes landfall. Long-lasting power outages are likely, especially in areas that experience the eyewall.

While damaging winds, flooding rains, and a risk for tornadoes will extend far away from the center of the storm and affect most of Florida, the precise track of the eye will make all the difference where the very worst storm surge occurs.

A track over or just north of Tampa Bay would expose the region to a storm surge not seen in living memory. A track just south would push the worst surge toward Charlotte Harbor and the Caloosahatchee River. It's a matter of a few miles in either direction.

Please heed evacuation orders if you're told to go. Time is running out. 

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Milton, a now-historic Category 5 hurricane, poses grave danger to Florida

Hurricane Milton explosively intensified into a scale-topping Category 5 storm during the day on Monday, strengthening at a rate only seen a handful of times since modern technology made real-time hurricane tracking possible.

Milton will threaten Florida as a major hurricane on Wednesday, posing a grave risk for destructive winds, a life-threatening storm surge, flooding rains, and the potential for tornadoes over much of the state.

Near-Historic Intensification

It's hard to convey the severity and magnitude of what Hurricane Milton has managed to accomplish in such a short period of time.

The storm's winds intensified from 90 mph to 175 mph over the course of 12 hours between 1:00 a.m. CDT and 1:00 p.m. CDT on Monday. Hurricane Milton's minimum central pressure plummeted from 975 mb to 911 mb over the same time period—a rate of explosive intensification rivaled only by a few storms in modern history, including Wilma back in 2005.

Milton is now one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, which is no small feat given that we're in October. Milton is the strongest storm we've ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico this late in the year, according to hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach. 

Multiple factors contributed to the storm's near-unprecedented strengthening session. Sea surface temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico are extremely warm, running 88°F or warmer throughout much of the region where Milton is currently tracking.

The storm has a very small core. Hurricane force winds only extend 30 miles from the center of the storm. Think of a figure skater pulling her arms in to spin faster—small hurricanes can efficiently translate their deep minimum air pressure into ferocious winds.

A subtropical jet stream north of Hurricane Milton is likely aiding the storm's robust intensification. Hurricanes lift a massive amount of air into the upper atmosphere. That cooler air needs to vent out and away from the storm in order for it to thrive. These strong winds north of Milton are likely helping to exhaust some of that air away from the core of the hurricane.

While the storm is likely near its peak strength today, it's worth noting that "weakening" is a relative term when it comes to a major hurricane aiming for land. This is likely to remain a very intense and dangerous hurricane as it approaches landfall in Florida over the next 48 hours.

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center puts Milton's intense core into the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday evening as a major hurricane with 125 mph winds. Small changes in the storm's intensity and track are likely as the storm gets closer to land. A few miles to the north or the south will make all the difference for the storm surge that gets shoved into Tampa Bay.

Storm Surge and Destructive Winds

Widespread wind damage will accompany the hurricane ashore and spread across the Florida Peninsula. Communities near the point of landfall will likely experience a period of sustained winds in excess of 100 mph with higher gusts. Hurricane force winds are likely across Florida along the track of the storm.

Structural damage, downed trees, and long-lasting power outages are expected near the point of landfall, inland toward the Orlando metro area, and even toward Florida's eastern seaboard. 

A life-threatening storm surge is all but assured given Hurricane Milton's current intensity and the fact that forecasters expect the storm to grow in size as it approaches Florida.

Florida's western coast is extremely vulnerable to storm surge. Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, and the Caloosahatchee River will amplify any surge that arrives in the region, posing a significant threat to neighborhoods within a few dozen feet of sea level.

The latest guidance from the National Hurricane Center calls for a potential storm surge of 10-15 feet above ground level across much of west-central Florida's coast if the storm surge coincides with high tide. This includes Tampa and St. Petersburg. 6-10 feet of surge possible farther south toward Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and other seaside communities throughout the region. 

Storm surge is seawater pushed inland by a hurricane's strong and intense winds. This much surge is unsurvivable; it's more than enough to completely submerge and likely wash away well-built structures.

This has the potential to be the worst storm surge ever observed in this region. We haven't had a major hurricane hit Tampa Bay since 1921. For context, Hurricane Charley pushed an estimated 6-7 foot storm surge into Sanibel Island back in August 2004.

Flooding Rains

Heavy rain is ongoing across Florida as a surge of tropical moisture ahead of Milton interacts with a stationary front parked across the state. This setup has already produced several inches of rain across much of Florida since the beginning of the weekend.

Additional rainfall totals of 4-8 inches are expected through the end of the week as Milton hammers the state through Thursday. The heaviest amounts are likely along and to the north of Milton's track.

Nearly half of all deaths in landfalling hurricanes are the result of flooding rains. Never try to drive across a flooded roadway. It's impossible to tell how deep the water is until it's too late, and the road may have washed away beneath the water.

Tornado Risk

Tornadoes are a risk in any landfalling tropical system. The risk for tornadoes will grow throughout southern and central Florida as Hurricane Milton's rainbands begin sweeping over the state on Tuesday and when the storm makes landfall on Wednesday.

Stay alert for tornado warnings and have a plan to act quickly if a warning is issued for your area. Tropical tornadoes happen quickly and with reduced tornado warning lead time.

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Milton to hit Florida as a major hurricane on Wednesday

Here we go again. Hurricane Milton is quickly gathering strength over the Gulf of Mexico as it heads east toward Florida over the next few days.

Milton's strange track will take it east over the length of the warm Gulf of Mexico. Favorable conditions will help the storm take advantage of that warm water and force periods of rapid intensification over the next 48 hours. 

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane by Monday, possibly peaking Tuesday as a Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds as it picks up speed toward Florida's western coast.

Forecasters expect that Hurricane Milton will make landfall somewhere on Florida's west-central coast as a major hurricane during the day Wednesday. The precise landfall location is still up in the air a few days out, but this will be a large and growing storm with wide-reaching impacts by the time it makes landfall.

A life-threatening storm surge is likely along the coast, mainly south of the point of landfall. Depending on where Milton makes landfall, this could lead to devastating coastal flooding for some areas. Anyone around Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, or the Caloosahatchee River should heed evacuation orders if and when they're issued.

Widespread flash flooding is possible throughout Florida as heavy rain pounds the state over the next few days even before Milton arrives. 5-8+ inches of rain will fall across Florida through the end of the week, with the highest totals expected in southern Florida and through the center of the state along Milton's expected track.

Remember, never try to drive across a flooded roadway. It's impossible to tell how deep the water is until it's too late, and the road may not be there anymore beneath the waters. It only takes a few inches of moving water to lift up a vehicle and carry it away.

It's been a long time since the Tampa Bay area has faced a direct threat like this. While many storms have grazed the region in the past few decades, the last hurricane to strike Tampa Bay directly was back in 1946. 

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Helene's Floods: When catastrophe comes to pass

Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee are reeling this week from the onslaught of historic floods associated with Hurricane Helene.

Entire neighborhoods washed away in the immense flooding. Major highways are severed. Dozens, if not hundreds, of roads no longer exist. Public utilities like water, electricity, and phone services are hanging by a thread if they're connected at all. The death toll, which just climbed above 100 as of this post, will almost certainly rise higher as officials finally make their way into the hardest-hit communities. 

By all accounts, this is the new flood of record for western North Carolina. The previous benchmark event was the Great Flood of 1916, the result of two tropical storms that hit the region one after the other. 

Hurricane Helene's rains were also a one-two punch that overwhelmed the region with more water than it could handle. I wrote more about it for The Weather Network over the weekend.

A predecessor rain event (PRE) brought 8-10+ inches of rain in the days before Hurricane Helene ever made landfall. Saturated soils and swollen waterways were already a major problem by the time Helene's core reached the region, dropping the final push of torrential rains that turned a dangerous situation into pure chaos. 

It was a well-predicted fiasco. The words "catastrophic," "devastating," and "life-threatening" filled the forecasts for days before the floods.

The southern Blue Ridge remains under a high risk for excessive rainfall through Friday, which signals extreme confidence among meteorologists that major flash flooding will occur throughout the region. Flash flooding is possible across areas that may not typically flood. Landslides and road washouts are likely in vulnerable areas. 

It doesn't matter how accurate the forecasts were. Flash flood warnings were timely and plentiful. Meteorologists used phrases like "flash flood emergency" to convey the severity of the situation.

But it's impossible to adequately prepare for 30 inches of rain. You can do everything right—have a plan, buy insurance, monitor the forecasts, heed alerts—and still nothing can prepare you for the aftermath of nearly a year's worth of rain falling in a couple of days.

There are natural catastrophes, and then there are catastrophes made even worse by human failures. Last week's flooding raised comparisons to Hurricane Katrina, the flooding from which killed more than one thousand people. This is not Katrina because Katrina's aftermath was made far worse by a cascade of human failures. Human-made levees failed. The response was slow and botched to a shameful extent. Katrina was a natural catastrophe that coincided with a societal catastrophe.

The flooding that devastated dozens of communities throughout the southern Appalachians was a natural catastrophe through and through. No amount of planning or preparation can contain the runoff from a year's worth of rain falling in mere days. Streams turned to rivers, rivers turned to oceans, and the valleys bore the brunt of nature's impersonal destruction.

Anger is fresh in the wake of a calamitous storm. People want to blame something, someone, anyone, anything, for the havoc that befell a vast swath of our fellow Americans. There's lots of anger aimed at state and federal officials for the seemingly slow response to communities no longer connected to the outside world.

Some of that anger is righteous, but much of it is contrived by outsiders looking to score points off the dripping ruins of their neighbors in need.

Bridges washed out and ravines carved into the earth where roads once existed. How are supplies supposed to instantly hustle into towns now severed from society? Helicopters need somewhere safe to land and rubble-strewn communities are nestled on rugged terrain in tree-lined valleys. Air drops require coordination with people on the ground—people who can't easily drive to where their help is needed the most, and where communication links are tenuous at best.

It's going to be days and possibly weeks before the full scope of Helene's human toll is known to the outside world. Recovery will be measured in months and years. Some residents are almost certainly never going to return; some communities will never rebuild to the way they were before the rain started.

We can shout accurate forecasts from the rooftops. Adequate warnings can make phones sing like slot machines. But when catastrophe comes to pass—a true, generational catastrophe—there's little even our modern conveniences can do to stave off heartbreaking levels of devastation. 

[Images: Civil Air Patrol | NCDOT]

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Hurricane Helene will bring extensive inland flash flooding, power outages

Hurricane Helene remains on track to bring widespread and significant flash flooding and wind damage to large swath of the southeastern United States over the next couple of days.

The storm is intensifying as expected as it enters the southern Gulf of Mexico. A sharp upper-level trough digging over the southern U.S. is picking up the storm and forcing it to turn north-northeast and accelerate toward the Florida Panhandle.

• 100+ mph winds will hit the Florida Panhandle as Helene makes landfall, with long-lasting power outages and a life-threatening storm surge across the region
• Damaging winds will push toward Atlanta, Greenville, and Charlotte, with a threat for widespread power outages
• Extensive flooding rains will continue into Friday, especially through northern Georgia, upstate South Carolina, and western North Carolina
• Tornadoes are possible in the storm's outer rainbands through Friday

Here's the latest on the storm and its predicted impacts.

Helene Strengthening

Helene is quickly strengthening as it encounters a very favorable environment around the storm. Sea surface temperatures in the southern Gulf of Mexico are on the order of 88-90°F. That upper-level trough is also helping to vent air up and away from the storm; this kind of efficient outflow can help storms thrive.

It can't be overstated that this is a large hurricane. Helene's minimum central pressure is 978 mb, which is very low for a hurricane of this strength. Storms can translate some of that energy into growing their size—exactly what Helene is doing now. 

As of 5:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, tropical storm force winds extended 345 miles from the center of the storm. This broad size will continue to grow and exacerbate the storm's impacts across the southeast as it pushes inland through the end of the week.

Landfall on Thursday Evening

Forecasters with the National Hurricane Center continue to expect Helene to strengthen into a major category four hurricane as it powers toward the Florida Panhandle over the next 24 hours, where the storm will likely make landfall on Thursday evening. A life-threatening storm surge of 15-20 feet is possible across Florida's Big Bend if the storm arrives at high tide—an exceptional potential that's due both to the storm's intensity and sheer size.

Sustained winds of 100+ mph will buffet a large swath of the Florida Panhandle as Helene's eyewall pushes ashore. These winds could bring significant structural, tree, and power line damage to the Tallahassee area. Communities affected by the eyewall could go a week or longer without electricity.

Major Inland Wind Impacts Expected

From there, the large storm will push into Georgia and the western Carolinas overnight Thursday and into the day Friday.

Helene's enormity and swift forward speed will prevent the storm from quickly weakening after it makes landfall. Sustained winds of 75+ mph are likely well into southern Georgia, where hurricane warnings are in effect.

The system will likely remain a potent tropical storm into the day Friday as it makes its way into northern Georgia. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the cities of Atlanta, Greenville, and Charlotte ahead of Helene's arrival.

Sustained winds of 40-60 mph, with higher gusts, could bring widespread tree damage and long-lasting power outages to northern Georgia—including the Atlanta metro area—as well as upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina.

Life-Threatening Flash Flooding Likely

We'll have to deal with prolific rains on top of the threat for widespread wind damage. Heavy rain will start Wednesday night, well in advance of the storm's arrival. Significant flash flooding is likely throughout Georgia, western South Carolina, and western North Carolina for the duration of this storm, where 7-10+ inches of rain could fall through Friday.

The southern Blue Ridge remains under a high risk for excessive rainfall through Friday, which signals extreme confidence among meteorologists that major flash flooding will occur throughout the region. Flash flooding is possible across areas that may not typically flood. Landslides and road washouts are likely in vulnerable areas. 

Tornado Threat

On top of all the other hazards, we have to remain alert for the risk for tornadoes on the eastern half of the storm. Strong wind shear in the eastern half of landfalling tropical cyclones can produce a risk for tornadoes. Tropical tornadoes can happen quickly with reduced tornado warning lead time. 

The greatest risk for tornadoes on Thursday will fall across northern Florida and eastern sections of Georgia and South Carolina. We'll see the threat for tornadoes focus on North Carolina and portions of South Carolina and Virginia heading into the day Friday.

NHC Updates

The National Hurricane Center releases full forecast packages—including updated cones and wind forecasts every six hours, at 11:00 a.m./p.m. and 5:00 a.m./p.m.

When there are watches and warnings in effect, the agency also releases intermediate updates every three hours in between. These advisories provide status updates on the storm's current location and conditions, as well as any changes to watches and warnings that are in effect.

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