Storms 411

Hurricane Ophelia Pictures

Caribble Inn - Atlantic Beech, N.C.

Surfers hop beach erosion before entering the water on St. Augustine Beach, Fla., as Ophelia hovers offshore Wed., Sept. 7.

Department of Transportation trucks dump large rocks into a washout along State Road A1A and 18th Steet in Flagler Beach, Fla., on Thurs., Sept. 8

Warren Lemme of St. Augustine, Fla., looks at erosion on Jacksonville Beach on Thurs., Sept. 8.

People walk north along Jacksonville Beach, Fla., on Thurs., Sept. 8.

Waves crash onto Atlantic Beach, N.C., on Sun., Sept. 11.

A fisherman is dwarfed by high waves on Hatteras Island in Rodanthe, N.C., on Mon., Sept. 12.

Visitors at the end of the Johnnie Mercers Pier at Wrightsville Beach, N.C., are greeted by huge surf on Tues., Sept. 13.

Heavy surf pounds Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Tues., Sept. 13.

Residents make their way off the beach as winds from Ophelia hit Wrightsville Beach, N.C., on Wed., Sept. 14.

Waters rise on Canal Drive as Jerry Johnson walks to check on a neighbor in Carolina Beach, N.C., on Wed., Sept. 14.

Progress Energy employees work to clear a fallen tree from Greenville Loop Road in Wilmington, N.C., on Wed., Sept. 14.

A couple walks past the collasped canopy of a gas station on Kure Beach, N.C., on Wed., Sept. 14.

Members of the North Carolina National Guard battle through the heavy rains from approaching Hurricane Ophelia, Wed., Sept.14, in Harlowe, N.C. The group was preparing for possible flooding along the Neuse River.

City workers move a large fallen tree from a road in Wilmington, N.C., Wed., Sept. 14, as Hurricane Ophelia threatened the North Carolina coast.

John T. Van Pelt (right) with the Storm Education Team of Durham, N.C. goes over the activity of Hurricane Ophelia on his laptop with Pine Knoll Shores, N.C., resident Tony Malouf, owner of Tony's Surf Shop in Atlantic Beach in the lobby of the Sheraton Atlantic Beach, Wed., Sept. 14, 2005.

Hurricane Ophelia

Tropical Depression Sixteen formed from an area of disturbed weather over the northern Bahamas on September 6. Early on September 7 it strengthened to become Tropical Storm Ophelia, and it became the seventh Atlantic hurricane of the season the next day. It churned nearly stationary for two days off the coast of Florida, causing warnings to be raised for the state and fears of heavy, prolonged rainfall. On September 9 to 11, Ophelia fluctuated in strength, being twice downgraded to a tropical storm only to regain hurricane intensity, while still moving only very slowly and erratically in a northeasterly direction. Through September 12 the storm completed a clockwise loop, then adopted a more north-westerly motion towards North Carolina, while still moving only slowly and fitfully. It dropped again just below hurricane strength, and yet again regained hurricane strength on September 13.

As of 5 am EDT September 14 (0900 UTC), the center of Hurricane Ophelia was located about 60 miles (95 km) south of Wilmington, North Carolina, and 110 miles (175 km) southwest of Cape Lookout. Ophelia was heading north-northeast at about 6 mph (10 km/h), and was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) and a central pressure of 980 mb.

The National Hurricane Center forecasts a slow drift to the north or east with possibly a little further strengthening, a passage over the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and subsequent acceleration into the North Atlantic.

Ophelia TimeLine

September 6, 2005
11 am EDT (1500 UTC) - Tropical Depression Sixteen forms over the northern Bahamas. National Hurricane Center Advisories: [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 7, 2005
2 am EDT (0600 UTC) - Tropical Depression Sixteen strengthens into Tropical Storm Ophelia. Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 8, 2005
5 pm EDT (2100 UTC) - Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthens into Hurricane Ophelia.
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 9, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [11:00 am] [5:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 10, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [5:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 11, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [8:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 12, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [8:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 13, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [8:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

September 14, 2005
Hurricane Center Advisories: [2:00 am] [5:00 am] [8:00 am] [11:00 am] [2:00 pm] [5:00 pm] [8:00 pm] [11:00 pm]

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