Subtropical storm Beryl expected to turn toward southeast U.S. coast on Saturday

Click here for an updated post.

I’m not going to be posting about this with every official update, but all folks along the Georgia coast, the southern portion of South Carolina, and the northern part of Florida should be preparing for a potentially serious storm. Beryl is NOT currently predicted to reach hurricane strength, but tropical storms and depressions can be pretty nasty.

From the National Hurricane Center’s 2 a.m. update:

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
——————————
AT 200 AM EDT…0600 UTC…THE CENTER OF SUBTROPICAL STORM BERYL WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 32.4 NORTH…LONGITUDE 75.1 WEST. BERYL IS DRIFTING SLOWLY TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 2 MPH…4 KM/H. A TURN TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST OR SOUTHWEST IS EXPECTED ON SATURDAY WITH A GRADUAL INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED. A TURN TOWARD THE WEST IS EXPECTED BY LATE SUNDAY. ON THE FORECAST TRACK…THE CENTER OF BERYL WILL APPROACH THE SOUTHEASTERN COAST OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE WARNING AREA ON SUNDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 45 MPH…75 KM/H…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. A LITTLE STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

Beryl's predicted track as of 2 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning

Some areas are likely to see high winds, lots of rain (2-4″), unusually high tides, and dangerous surf.

As you can see from the map here, the track is expected to take Beryl south and west, before it turns back to the north and east. If that happens, the entire southeast coast could see some unpredictable and potentially dangerous weather through Wednesday.