Tropical Storm Danny Makes Landfall and Then Weakens - The New York Times

Short-lived as a tropical storm, Danny is the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The season’s fourth tropical storm, named Danny, made landfall on Monday evening over South Carolina, and then weakened into a tropical depression before dissipating over Georgia.

The system, which developed as a depression off the coast on Monday morning, was about 95 miles east-southeast of Atlanta on Tuesday morning, moving west-northwest at 17 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 25 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical storms form when maximum sustained winds reach 39 m.p.h.

“It’s a minimal tropical storm,” said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the center in Miami, before the storm had made landfall. “There is no such thing as a justa tropical storm. Justa is not in the dictionary so you never want to take a tropical storm lightly.”

He said the primary threat from the system was rain. The remnants of the storm were expected to produce one to three inches of rain in portions of Georgia and Alabama through Tuesday afternoon, according to the center.

“The good news is that region has been dry, so it should be able to handle the rainfall,” Mr. Feltgen said.

In an update Monday evening, the hurricane center said an isolated tornado was possible as the system moved inland along the South Carolina coast, but as the system weakened, tornadoes were no longer a concern by late Monday. The potential threat for dangerous surf and rip currents, and widespread flooding had also decreased.

Because the system had weakened, all tropical storm warnings were discontinued by late Monday.

Danny is the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. In mid-June, Claudette was blamed for the deaths of 14 people — 10 of them children — as it moved from the Gulf Coast to the East Coast.

This was the seventh year in a row that a named storm developed in the Atlantic before the official start of the season on June 1.

Hurricanes have become increasingly dangerous and destructive with each passing season.

Researchers have found that climate change has produced storms that are more powerful and have heavier rain. The storms also have a tendency to dawdle and meander. A combination of rising seas and slower storms also make for higher and more destructive storm surges.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast that there would be 13 to 20 named storms this year, six to 10 of which would be hurricanes, and three to five major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher in the Atlantic.

Last year, there were 30 named storms, including six major hurricanes, forcing meteorologists to exhaust the alphabet for the second time and move to using Greek letters.

It was the highest number of storms on record, surpassing the 28 from 2005, and included the second-highest number of hurricanes on record.

Daniel Victor contributed reporting.

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Tropical Storm Danny Makes Landfall and Then Weakens - The New York Times
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