While there is still much unknown about how Hurricane Matthew will affect the Cape Fear Region, it is becoming more and more likely that it will have an impact on the area in some way.
In a probable track in its Sunday afternoon update, the National Weather Service had the outer reaches of the storm hitting the east coast, at South Carolina, Friday afternoon.
As of Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Matthew had been downgraded to a Category 4 storm from an earlier Category 5. It has sustained winds of around 145 mph and was moving at about 5 mph.
Some fluctuations are expected, but the storm is “expected to remain a powerful storm,” an NWS briefing stated. Matthew is expected to hit Jamaica and Cuba on Monday.
In its briefing on the storm, the National Weather Service office in Wilmington noted that, regardless of the final storm track, eastern North Carolina area will be affected by heavy rainfall, dangerous surf, large waves, rip currents and possible beach erosion. Coastal flooding is also a possibility.
#WrightsvilleBeach & #MyrtleBeach water temps are among the warmest this late in the yr. Could be important with ? #Matthew late this week pic.twitter.com/MfMzjKB3yW
— NWS Wilmington NC (@NWSWilmingtonNC) October 3, 2016
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