ORLANDO, Fl. – As of Sunday at 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center (NHC) renamed the system, previously called Invest 95L to potential tropical cyclone 8, to issue tropical storm warnings for coastal North and South Carolina.
Potential Tropical Cyclone 8 formed off the Southeast U.S. coast on Sunday and is expected to become Tropical Storm Helene early this week.
PTC 8 is a few hundred miles off the Southeastern U.S. coast.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Edisto Beach, South Carolina, to Hatteras, North Carolina.
Impacts include strong winds, heavy rain, flash flooding, coastal flooding, and dangerous beach conditions to parts of the Southeast and mid-Atlantic coasts in the next few days.
Inland cities like Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina, and Richmond in Virginia, are expected to get 1-3 inches of rain. PTC is also expected to bring the risk of dangerous rip currents and storm surge up to 3 feet along coastal North and South Carolina. Coastal erosion will be likely.