In the wake of the recent Tropical Storm Ian, the Prince George’s County officials got some updates from the National Weather Service this afternoon about the expected impacts for our area.
Currently there are no Watches, Warnings or Advisories for Prince George’s County. At the time of the call, Tropical Storm Ian was located just northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida in the Atlantic Ocean heading north-northwest at 9 mph with sustained winds of 70 mph.
Ian is expected to strengthen slightly and may become a Category 1 hurricane while in the Atlantic before reaching landfall again near the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. Ian will then turn northwest and will head into North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee, Western Virginia and into Kentucky. It is expected Ian will weaken significantly and become a post-tropical depression.
The primary impact associated with the remnants of Ian over Prince George’s County will be potential for moderate to heavy rain this weekend. Light rain looks to spread over the county tomorrow afternoon (Friday afternoon). Rain intensity will ramp up Friday night into Saturday morning (moderate rain Friday night, and moderate to occasionally heavy rain on Saturday). Light to moderate rain is likely to continue through much of Sunday. There is still uncertainty about how much rain is expected, and it looks more likely that light rain could linger across the area through Monday or even Tuesday.
The latest forecast still shows 2.00 to 3.00 inches of rain across the County this weekend. However, this rain will fall over a relatively long period of time, and the ground is dry at present, so any flood concerns are expected to be minor/localized at most. High winds are not expected, but sustained winds are likely to be 13-19 mph for Saturday into Sunday, with gusts of 30-35 mph at times on Saturday and Sunday.
At this time, County’s Emergency Operation Center will not activate for this event, but they will monitor the event and address resource needs as they occur.
If anything changes, we will send out additional information.