Carolina Storm System
4/30/99 - 05/02/99

Wind Gusts Over 30 Knots & Waves > 10 feet (Click For Complete Raw Obs)*

A low pressure system developed off the coast of the Carolinas on April 29, 1999 and stayed there for several days, causing tropical storm-force conditions over the coastal areas. Winds gusted to 79mph off the coast at Frying Pan Shoals Tower, NC, and waves of 17 feet were observed from buoy 41004 off the coast of South Carolina. Over 13" of rain fell near Wilmington N from 4/27 to 4/30. Over 21" of rain was observed off the coast of NC from 4/27 12pm to 5/1 at 12pm (more fell afterwards).* Forecasts from the NWS on 5/1 looked like this:

NWS-ILM (Wilmington)

...STORM WARNING...
...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH...
...HEAVY SURF ADVISORY...

.THIS AFTERNOON...NE WIND 45 TO 50 KT AND GUSTY. SEAS 11 TO 13 FTBUILDING TO 
14 TO 17 FT. WIDESPREAD RAIN AND TSTMS BECOMING SCATTEREDLATE.
.TONIGHT... NE WIND 30 TO 35 KT BECOMING N. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 9 TO12 FT. 
AREAS OF RAIN AND TSTMS.


HATTERAS TO 30N

...STORM WARNING...

...N WALL OF GULF STREAM 31N 80W...32N 79.4W...32.3N 77.8W...34N 76.6W... 35N 
75.3W...
.TODAY...NE WINDS 35 TO 50 KT N OF CAPE ROMAIN AND NW 20 TO 30 KT S OF CAPE 
ROMAIN BECOMING N TO NE 35 TO 50 KT THROUGHOUT. SEAS 12 TO 18 FT N OF CAPE 
ROMAIN AND 6 TO 12 FT S OF CAPE ROMAIN BECOMING 12 TO 22 FT THROUGHOUT. WINDS 
LOCALLY TO 60 KT SEAS TO 27 FT NEAR THE GULF STREAM. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND 
TSTMS OVER N PORTION SPREADING THROUGHOUT.
.TONIGHT...NE WINDS 35 TO 50 KT EXCEPT TO 60 KT NEAR GULF STREAM. SEAS 
BUILDING TO 14 TO 24 FT EXCEPT TO 30 FT NEAR GULF STREAM. NUMEROUS SHOWERS 
AND TSTMS.

Additional Information and Graphics:

• NEXRAD Maps
  • Doppler Estimated Precipitation Storm Totals 5/1 (KILM)
• Surface Maps - TWC
  • 4/28/99 - Rain Off Coast
  • 4/29/99 - (Not available)
  • 4/30/99 - Low Off Coast
  • 5/01/99 - Low Still Off Coast
  • 5/02/99 - (Not available)
• Surface Maps - HPC (DIFAX)
  • 4/28/99
  • 4/30/99
  • 5/01/99
• Flood Watches / Warnings / River Info
  • All Advisories Available via the CASI SEVERE Text Archive
• Other Info
  • NWS-Wilmington Rain Storm Totals (Text List)
• Complete Text Observations (4/29-5/2)
  • Click on the map above for complete lists!
  • A file with NWS Observations with Gusts Over 30mph ONLY is available here

* = The above observations were taken from the following data. Rounding errors could have occurred while converting winds between units.

• 3. AWS.COM Weather Systems - 5/1/99 12am-6pm. Stations stopped transmitting after 6pm on 5/1. These observations are shown as Gusts only on and near land. Click on the observation for the HTML page which noted the Maximum Gust.
• 2. National Weather Service Observations - 6pm 4/30/99 - 6pm 5/2/99. Gusts (mph) only are noted. Click through for complete 72 hours of observations. Remember the text obs winds are in Knots!
• 3. Buoy/Coast Guard Stations - 4/28/99 - 21Z 5/2/99. Maximum sustained wind / Maximum Gust Winds are noted. Sometimes the .txt file (hourly met data) disagreed from the .cwind (Continuous Wind Data) file but usually not by very much. Remember both of these files' winds are in Meters/Second! With the exception of HTML pages, which are in Knots as stated (included for FPSN7 to illustrate conditions nearest high Gust and was only data for 62W.
• Additional problems with individual stations data are noted at the bottom of your browser window in the status bar when you mouse over the map above.

© 1999 Central Atlantic Storm Investigators