Photo: National Hurricane Center
After devastating portions of Florida's Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ian is closing in on the coast of South Carolina with 85 mile per hour winds.
Life-threatening storm surge and hurricane conditions are expected along the coast by this afternoon. Flooding rains are likely across the Carolinas and Southern Virginia.
Here's the latest from the National Hurricane Center:
At 500 AM EDT (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Ian was located
near latitude 30.8 North, longitude 79.1 West. Ian is moving toward
the north-northeast near 9 mph (15 km/h). A turn toward the north
with an increase in forward speed is expected this morning,
followed by a turn toward the north-northwest by tonight. On the
forecast track, the center of Ian will approach and reach the coast
of South Carolina today, and then move farther inland across
eastern South Carolina and central North Carolina tonight and
Saturday.
Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (140 km/h) with higher
gusts. Little change in strength is expected before Ian reaches
the coast later today. Rapid weakening is expected after landfall,
and Ian is forecast to become an extratropical low over North
Carolina tonight or on Saturday. The low is then expected to
dissipate by Saturday night.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from
the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 485
miles (780 km). A sustained wind of 38 mph (61 km/h) and a gust
to 52 mph (83 km/h) were recently reported at the Hilton Head
Airport in South Carolina. An elevated WeatherFlow station at the
Winyah Bay Range Light in South Carolina measured a sustained wind
of 49 mph (80 km/h) and a gust to 71 mph (115 km/h) during the past
couple of hours.
The estimated minimum central pressure is 984 mb (29.06 inches).