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Nestor to Bring Rain to South Carolina on Saturday

Tropical Storm Nestor Track

More beneficial rain is on its way to the parched Palmetto State this weekend.

Nestor has become the season’s 14th named tropical storm as of the 2 PM advisory from The National Hurricane Center. It is moving quickly northeastward and is expected to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle early Saturday morning. Its track brings the storm over South Carolina during the day on Saturday before moving off the North Carolina coast on Sunday morning.

The storm itself is not entirely “tropical”. Some of its energy is coming from the mid-latitude jet stream that is dipping southward along the Gulf coast. This is not unusual for early season and late season storms, and it means much of the wind and rain from the storm will arrive well before the center of the storm moves overhead.

The most recent model simulations show rain arriving in parts of the Lowcountry as soon as early Saturday morning, when the center of the storm is expected to move ashore in Florida. Steady to locally heavy rain is expected over much of the state during the day on Saturday. The rain will continue Saturday night and then exit the Pee Dee and Grand Strand areas early Sunday morning. There is a small risk of tornadoes along the immediate coast of South Carolina during the day Saturday, but the location of the highest risk will depend on the exact track of the storm.

NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center is forecasting anywhere from 1 to 3 inches over nearly the whole state. These rains will help with the drought, but not put an end to it. 9 to as much as 15 inches of rain are needed in a one-week period to end the drought in the Midlands and Upstate, where the latest Drought Monitor is showing the worst conditions.

Another cold front is expected to approach the state from the west on Tuesday. Forecasters say another good chance of rain will accompany this front.