Good day all,
Sorry for the late reply. This is my chase log for hurricane Florence in North Carolina. Details are below...
Summary: This area shows pictures taken from the interception and observation of category-one (borderline 2) hurricane Florence in North Carolina including its landfall on September 13 and 14 mainly near Wilmington and Topsail Beach. Hurricane Florence began its journey as a wave that came off Africa in late August of 2018, taking more than two weeks to reach the United States in mid September. The storm peaked in intensity around September 10 and 11 with explosive intensification, becoming a strong category 4 storm with winds near 150 MPH. As the storm approached north Carolina on September 13, the storm weakened to category 2 with 100 MPH winds, and strong category 1 with 90 MPH as it made landfall on September 14, 2018 near Wrightsville Beach, NC. The chase included a drive from Deerfield Beach, Florida to the primary target area of Wilmington, North Carolina via I-95 north on September 11 and 12, with a stop in Jacksonville, Florida. The chasing was done near Highways 17 and 74 in the Wilmington and North Topsail Beach areas on September 13 and 14. Late on the 14th, I left Wilmington to avoid being trapped by catastrophic flooding by heading back west on Highway 74 to I-95 south, spending that night in Hardeeville, South Carolina. On September 15, I drove back to South Florida, wrapping up the chase with a total mileage on the vehicle (2016 Jeep Wrangler) of 1699 miles. Chaser Derek Sibley also accompanied me on this chase.
Very large and destructive waves impact North Topsail Beach (and North Carolina coastal areas) late in the day on September 13, 2018 as hurricane Florence lingers offshore. The hurricane generated large east and southeast swell waves during its long trip across the Atlantic Ocean and is about 100 miles offshore. The winds are from the north, and actually blowing side-offshore, against the breaking surf, causing spin-drift (back-spray) and a "gnarly" appearance to the 10 to 15 foot breakers. Tides are still above normal with storm surge and wave run-up causing damage to homes and severe beach erosion. Later the storm eye will move in just south of this area, and winds will be onshore and push even more water inland. Shortly after this picture was taken, the entire island was evacuated and all media / storm chasers were told by police to move inland or risk being arrested.
These are two images showing hurricane Florence. To the left is an absolutely incredible image taken by NASA aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed over the storm on September 11. To the right is the base reflectivity of the inner eyewall as it was just about to make landfall near Wrightsville Beach / Wilmington early on September 14.
Full video of Hurricane Florence is below...
Pictures are below...
Above: View of North Topsail Beach pier before leaving (police orders) late on September 13 as hurricane Florence draws closer.
Above: A BP gas station canopy is topped by strong winds of the outer eyewall of Florence just before midnight on September 13 in North Topsail Beach.
Above: Strong winds gusting over 80 MPH and horizontal (sideways) rain at the Wilmington Red Roof Inn during the pre-dawn hours of September 14. This marked the arrival of the inner eyewall.
Above: View looking up towards the sky while inside the calm eye of hurricane Florence at about 7:45 AM EDT on September 14 while just SE of Wilmington. The eye was clouded over, with a thin fog / stratus layer, but bright with a warm and muggy environment with skies bright overhead. In this shot you can see ocean birds "caught up" within the eye (there were hundreds of birds noted overhead at one point)!
Above: Parts of Highway 74 out of Wilmington blocked by downed trees during the mid morning of September 14.