Tropical Depression Four formed Monday morning off the U.S. East Coast causing the National Hurricane Center to respond by issuing a tropical storm warning for South Carolina.
TD Four is 145 miles east-southeast of Beaufort, South Carolina and 110 miles from Charleston, the NHC said in an 11 a.m. update. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and is moving west-northwest at 16 mph, the NHC said.
The NHC issued a tropical storm warning from Edisto Beach, South Carolina, to South Santee River, Sout Carolina.
The storm is expected to strengthen later Monday before making landfall along South Carolina sometime Monday evening. If the storm’s maximum sustained winds grow above 38 mph, it will become the fourth named tropical storm of the year and receive the title Danny.
Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach South Carolina sometime this afternoon. About 1 to 3 inches of rain are expected along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. At the peak of high tide, storm surges of 1 to 3 feet may be possible from Port Royal Sound, SC to South Santee River, the NHC forecast.
A U.S. Air Force Reserve unit is scheduled to deploy Monday afternoon for further investigation.
The NHC is also monitoring a broad area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave that rolled off of the African coast last week. The low is producing small clusters of showers and thunderstorms over the eastern tropics, the NHC said.
Slow development is possible through the end of this week as it moves west at 20 mph possibly reaching the Lesser Antilles late Wednesday.
The low has a 20% chance of forming into a tropical depression or storm in the next two days and a 40% chance of doing so in the next five.
If either of the two disturbances becomes a tropical storm, whichever does so first will be the fourth named storm of the year and receive the title of Danny. If they both develop, the slower of the two will be Elsa.
