Tropical Storm Cristobal Hovering Over the Carolinas

According to weather forecaster, Tropical Storm Cristobal will hit Eastern Carolina on Saturday evening and may pour up to some inches in some area of drought-affected North Carolina.

At 8 pm EDT, the centre of storm was about 130 miles away from east of Charleston and was about 185 miles away from southwest of Cape Hatteras, N.C. The National Hurricane Center said Cristobal is moving northeast at about 6 mph, which can gust up to 45 mph or more.

According to lead center forecaster Martin Nelson, the storm is running parallel to the coast and will show slow growth in next one or two days.

However, out of the state visitors of The Sea Motel in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., snapped the outer band as Cristobal rumbled off the coast. Even intermittent light rainfall could not chase them away, informed hotel manager Charlie Peterson.

Although the center of storm remains off the coast through out the weekend, authorities set alert from the South Santee River in South Carolina to the North Carolina-Virginia state line, including Pamlico Sound.

Flood advisories were posted for coastal counties and Wilmington, N.C., which dumped with 2 1/2 inches of rain Saturday, said Stephen Keebler, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service there.He expects that Cristobal wind may not create any havoc.

Eastern North Carolina comes under the moderate drought region while the area along the northern coast of South Carolina comes under extreme drought region, according to the drought monitor. Officials blame the huge wildfire as the cause of drought, which charred more than 40,000 acre in eastern North Carolina since it, began June 1 with a lightning strike.