Tropical Depression Bonnie Makes Landfall Near Charleston, SC

The center of Tropical Depression Bonnie made landfall on the coast of South Carolina just east of Charleston at 8:30 am EDT Sunday morning. At the time, Bonnie had top winds of 35 mph. On Saturday night, Bonnie reached peak intensity with 45 mph winds as the center of the storm lingered over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. However, early on Sunday morning, strong upper level winds created wind shear in excess of 40 knots over the storm, ripping away most of Bonnie's heavy thunderstorms, reducing the storm to tropical depression status.


Figure 1. Tropical Depression Bonnie making landfall near Charleston, South Carolina, as seen by the GOES-East satellite at 8:30 am EST May 29, 2016. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.

As Bonnie heads north at 9 mph on Sunday, the center will get farther from the warm ocean waters that fuel the storm, causing weakening. Nevertheless, Bonnie will be able to dump heavy rains of 2 - 4 inches over much of coastal South Carolina and adjacent areas of coastal Georgia and North Carolina through Monday. Radar-estimated rainfall from Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday morning showed several regions between Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia had already tallied more than two inches of rain from the storm.


Figure 2. Radar-estimated rainfall from Charleston, South Carolina at 11:05 am EDT Sunday, May 29, 2016. Several coastal areas had received more than 2" of rain (yellow colors.)

Jeff Masters