Ian will bring heavy rainfall, potential flooding later this week

Though Hurricane Ian will weaken after landfall and track to the west of the Outer Banks, a combination of an offshore front and tropical moisture associated with Ian will lead to an extended period of heavy rain across Eastern N.C. late this week, per a Monday morning update from the National Weather Service Newport/Morehead City office.

The most probable local threats will be widespread heavy rain with the potential for flash flooding and coastal flooding, with approximately 6-8 inches of rain forecast for Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

Impacts to eastern N.C. are expected to begin on Friday and last through much of this weekend. The extent of these impacts will be highly dependent on the eventual track, (which is likely to change over the next few days).

Ian strengthened to a hurricane on Monday morning, and is expected to rapidly intensify to a major hurricane in the next 24 hours as the storm heads northward into the Gulf of Mexico, and eventually to the Florida peninsula.

As of Monday at 8:00 a.m., Ian was located about 90 miles WSW of Grand Cayman, and was moving northwest at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands today, and near or over western Cuba tonight and early Tuesday. Ian will then emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, pass west of the Florida Keys late Tuesday, and approach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday.

For more information on the local forecast, visit www.weather.gov/mhx for general weather information, or the National Weather Service office in Newport / Morehead City’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NWSMoreheadCity/.