THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609010063
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 122 lines
The behemoth is passing us by.
Hurricane Edouard - still packing sustained winds of 115 mph - skirted the Outer Banks on Saturday and is expected to slip past Virginia today, slapping the coastline with heavy surf but otherwise sparing the mid-Atlantic.
Forecasters fear, however, that the hurricane will start edging inland tonight or Monday, taking aim at the coast somewhere between New York and Cape Cod and bringing torrential rains, high winds and heavy surf north and east of wherever it hits.
And there's still a slight concern that Edouard might edge close enough to the Delmarva Peninsula to bring some blustery weather to Eastern Virginia. But that risk appeared to be lessening Saturday.
``So far it's going right up to the north and not showing any tendency to come back west, even though the forecast says it will,'' said John Hope, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel in Atlanta. ``But we see some pretty hard evidence that it is going to come back some toward the west.''
And while it wasn't enough to cancel most people's holiday plans, Edouard's presence so close offshore was frustrating, like finding ants in the picnic basket.
Oceanfront hotel rooms were full of visitors who either didn't know of the storm or didn't learn of it until they arrived. Either way, most hit the beaches on a warm, mostly sunny day. But most weren't able to enjoy the ocean.
``I'd like to go in the water, but my mother said we can't,'' groaned 13-year-old Ted Turner of Montreal as he undermined his sister's newly built sandcastle with his toes. ``We go back home Monday. I want to swim before that.''
A small tower collapsed around his foot as his sister protested.
Only the surfers seemed to be making a good day of it.
At Sandbridge, wave riders were left to their own devices, and many reveled at a chance to mount some rolling whitecaps. But there, as elsewhere along the Virginia and North Carolina coasts, red caution flags flew, warning would-be bathers to stay ashore.
Despite that, lifeguards didn't have an easy day. They had to keep signaling people back ashore as some would-be bathers tested the limits of the imaginary line guards drew near the water's edge. Some bathers wanted to take advantage of the license to go in ankle-deep and try for waist-level.
For property owners, especially those whose homes are perilously close to the surf line, it was another day to watch and worry as boiling surf surged against bulkheads and pilings.
Heavy equipment worked here and there, dumping loads of sand onto the beach like an offering to Edouard - take this, but leave the rest.
Offshore, wave heights hit 13 feet 50 miles east of False Cape, and there were reports of 19-foot swells closer to Edouard.
At 11 p.m., the center of the storm was about 450 miles south-southeast of Long Island, moving north near 16 mph. That general motion was expected to continue through the night, bringing hurricane conditions to New England on Monday.
A hurricane watch was up from Cape Charles to Merrimack River, Mass., with a tropical storm warning in effect from Cape Charles to Cape Henlopen, Del. The watch and warning for Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina were dropped Saturday afternoon.
The Hurricane Center expects Edouard to pass about 200 miles east of Virginia Beach today. Then, as it runs into the southern flow of a Canadian high-pressure system to its north, it could arc slightly north-northwestward.
It still looked impressive, although not as well organized, Saturday. Satellite images showed the huge storm spinning east of Hatteras.
On the plus side, the weakening storm is heading into unfriendly waters with cooler temperatures that could sap its strength.
``Once the hurricane gets north of the Gulf Stream in 24 to 36 hours, we feel confident it will weaken,'' Hope said. ``It may not even be a hurricane by the time it gets up toward New England.''
Even a weakened hurricane, interacting with a strong onshore wind flow from the Canadian high-pressure system, may prove destructive. And that was the scenario the Hurricane Center was looking at Saturday.
The air flow around the high is spinning clockwise; around Edouard, it's counterclockwise. Where the flows meet, they will squeeze winds in the same direction: at the coast.
Additionally, the worst weather associated with Edouard is to its north and east. If the storm comes ashore in Long Island or Southern New England, whatever area ends up north and east of the center could be pummeled.
And Edouard is moving slowly, raising the specter of such conditions continuing through several tidal cycles.
``Those prolonged periods of rain and wind are going to make conditions worse,'' Hope said. ``The rainfall is going to be heavy and prolonged.''
And while it appeared Hampton Roads and northeastern North Carolina had eluded Edouard, the threat hasn't entirely passed.
Some computer models still bring the storm into the mid-Atlantic states - one slows it and has the center just off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on Monday afternoon; another stalls it and turns it into North Carolina on Tuesday and, eventually, into West Virginia.
Still, the Hurricane Center favors the generally northward track.
While Edouard has vexed the computers, the models have been in much closer agreement on the future of Fran.
Some have the storm nearing the Outer Banks late in the week.
``It is getting better organized and it is going to move, for the next couple days, closer to the U.S.,'' Hope said. `But it is moving slowly, so we have plenty of time to watch it.''
At 11 p.m., Fran was reclassified a hurricane with top winds of 75 mph. It was about 330 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, moving northwest near 7 mph. That motion is expected to continue today.
Tropical Storm Gustav was 1,100 miles east of the Lesser Antiles, moving west-northwest near 14 mph. That motion was expected to continue today.
Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Five-year-old Sara Stramel of Fairfax, Va., points to the banner her
mother hung from their balcony in Kill Devil Hills on Saturday.
Photos
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Robenna Bosch, second from right, reaches for her son, Rashad
Moorefield, Saturday at Altantic Beach, N.C., where beachgoers were
allowed to go only knee-deep in the storm-churned seas.
Jeff West of Raleigh, N.C., jumps with his surfboard from the Cape
Hatteras Pier in Frisco, N.C., on Saturday as Trip Kolkmeyer waits
his turn for a shot at the hurricane-driven waves.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANES TROPICAL STORMS
HURRICANE EDUOARD by CNB