An area of heavy rain and thunderstorms off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina was designated Potential Tropical Cyclone 8 (or PTC 8) Monday morning. This is the next potential Atlantic system that could impact the continental United States.
As of 11 a.m. ET on Monday, the core of the system, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Charleston, South Carolina, was producing tropical storm-force winds and torrential rain, mainly from Wilmington to Carolina Beach, North Carolina.
The storm came a week after Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power for days.
According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, several locations have already received double-digit rainfall from the latest system, including more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) at Carolina Beach.
In addition to the rain reports, there were also some impressive wind reports from buoys in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Mid-Atlantic coast. These included a NOAA buoy off Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, which reported a sustained wind of 47 mph with a gust of 56 mph, and another NOAA buoy off Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, which reported a sustained wind of 38 mph and a gust of 54 mph.
Meanwhile, Wilmington, North Carolina recorded a wind gust of 60 miles per hour earlier Monday morning.
As the system slowly moves toward shore, it is running out of time on open water to organize into a tropical or subtropical system. Even if it does not become a named system, the area of unsettled weather will still move inland between Charleston and Myrtle Beach Monday afternoon.
Whether it has a name or not, it does not change the expected wind and rain impacts of the system.
Tropical storms are expected along the Carolina coast on Monday, with the potential for heavy rain, gusty winds and a few tornadoes.
Rain will linger in the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and Wednesday, affecting parts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.
A minor storm surge of 1 to 3 feet (30 to 90 centimeters) is forecast from the South Santee River, South Carolina to Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, and along the Neuse, Bay, Pamlico and Pungo rivers in North Carolina.
Six million people are under a Flood Watch from northeastern South Carolina to central North Carolina. The Flood Watch includes Myrtle Beach, Wilmington, Cape Hatteras and Raleigh.
As for the expected rainfall yet to come, South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina could see 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) through Monday evening, with locally as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters).
Inland North Carolina could see 2 to 4 inches of snow through Tuesday, with locally as much as 6 inches.
And in Virginia, 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall through Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic basin, Tropical Depression Gordon continues to move across the open ocean. It is expected to strengthen to a tropical storm by the end of the week as it meanders across the Atlantic without any threat to land.
In addition to the Mid-Atlantic system today and Gordon in the tropical Atlantic, attention will be focused on the western Caribbean this weekend. Global forecast models point to possible developments in that area during the last week of September.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
