While all eyes may be on Day 10 of the Olympics, or on who Vice President Harris picks as a running mate, or if Corey Feldman is actually playing guitar while on tour with Limp Bizkit, millions of folks down south are watching and waiting for the arrival of Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Debby. This kind of thing happens every year during hurricane season which runs from June through November. Here up north we get ours from time to time but it's an annual ritual that plays out every year down south without fail. My Mom's now down in Florida, in Bradenton, and it's a 24-hour "thing" on the TV but life goes on pretty much as scheduled down there.
Of course I'm watching what's going on down there to make sure Mom's all good but I'm also watching on how it will affect Hilton Head Island and the Lowcountry part of South Carolina.
They're calling for lot's of rain and flooding in that section of the state as the storm is predicted to travel up from Florida and camp out for a few days with rainfall totals possibly upwards of 20 inches. Some forecasters are saying rainfall totals could hit 30 inches over the five days. That's a lot of rain.
Things will kick off Monday as Debby hits land in Florida's "Big Bend" region where the panhandle transitions to the peninsula south and east of Tallahassee. It looks like she'll hit as a Cat 1 Hurricane and then slow down a bit as she travels across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. While her wind speeds may drop below the Cat. 1 benchmark of 74 mph it's the speed and rain she'll bring that has everyone worried. Storms that move slow can sometimes be worse than a quick blow-through.
They say that people who live in areas with extreme weather just get used to it. I couldn't imagine having an annual ritual of storm predictions with hunkering down or evacuation orders in place each year. And for us that don't live in hurricane or tornado alleys we just watch the before, during, and
afters and wish those people that are affected the best and breath a sigh of relief it's not us. But with the thought of moving to the Lowcountry in the next few years a possibility I'm watching this season with a little more interest.
The "Lowcountry" is made up of eleven counties that stretch from Charleston, S.C. down to just above Savannah, Georgia. This part of South Carolina sits at 270 feet above sea level where the rest, above the Sandhills region to the west, are at 330 feet. New Jersey's coast sits at an average of 250 feet above sea level. Interestingly California's "Death Valley", or the Mojave desert, sits at - 282 feet below sea level.
The last big weather events to hit the that area were in 2015 and 2016. In the later year Hurricane Matthew dumped 16.58 inches of rain on the island and this week they may see even more than that. Again, I wouldn't even be looking at it twice if we weren't thinking of moving down there. I am sure most people who are on the move or are thinking of a big move look at weather and potential weather when they look to relocate. But isn't weather just a thing and eventually all places have some kind of weather event? Look at the lovely weather we've been having in New Jersey.....
While Theresa and I would love to drop a cool million on a beautiful place down in Sea Pines or Palmetto Dunes on Hilton Head the potential for harsh weather there keeps us away. Alright, maybe it's
we just don't have it like that. We fell in love with a 55 and over in Hardeeville, South Carolina called Latitude Margaritaville. It's 16 miles from Hilton Head Island in a straight line down Route 278. In between the two sits Bluffton, a beautiful town that sits on the May River. I'm thinking if Margaritaville gets flooded then it's a 1,000 year flood and it wouldn't matter anyway. I've been watching some of the
Hilton Head fans and travel pages on Facebook and the above post got my attention. And what would it look like if we had to build an arc these days? Just check out "The Arc Encounter" down in Williamstown, Kentucky.
Can you imagine the people of today trying to get into that arc? Do you they'd go in two by two? All kidding aside this looks like it could be a severe rain, tidal surge, and flooding event. We just had a New Moon last night so those moon tides will just add to the 6-8 foot tidal range they have down in Hilton Head. But luckily Debby isn't supposed to hit them until Thursday and if we see any effect from it in Jersey it wouldn't be until next weekend.