Gaston changes little in strength in Atlantic

But the wraparound of thunderstorms that would make it a tropical cyclone hadn’t appeared and it remained a disorganized system. At this time, the storm still lacks a well-defined center.

“Heavy rains and gusty winds could begin over the weekend and continue through early next week”, the Miami-based Hurricane Center said in an advisory issued early Friday.

Also in the Atlantic, all eyes are on a tropical wave that is expected to head in the general direction of Florida by this weekend.

It’s been more than a decade since a hurricane has made landfall in Florida.

Hurricane Gaston has weakened to a tropical storm in the Atlantic. It’s still a few days before meteorologists can reliably predict the impact, and how it will affect the area.

The NHC estimates that the system has a medium chance of developing within 48 hours, and a high chance (more than 80 percent) of developing within the next five days.

Regardless of development, squalls to tropical storm force were expected over portions of the northern Leeward Islands and the northern USA and British Virgin Islands on Wednesday afternoon. “This is just another very good reminder people should have hurricane preparedness plans ready”.

But Phillips said there’s no time like the present to prepare for a storm. However, the last hurricane to directly hit the Lowcountry was Gaston in August 2004. However, we are watching an area in the tropics closely.

According to the latest forecast, Gaston is expected to later strengthen to a hurricane and stay in open water though early Monday morning.

The NOAA said earlier this week that now is typically the most unsafe part of hurricane season, which runs from June to November.