For the last week, we have been watching the development of Tropical Storm Fiona as it moved towards the Southeast from the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean. Today, Fiona became a hurricane just shortly before it made landfall near the southwestern tip of Puerto Rico. Impacts from Fiona on PR have been tremendous, and as of Sunday night the entire island had no electricity and heavy rain and winds have caused floods that washed out bridges and caused mudslides in the mountainous parts of the island. This is occurring on top of heavy rain that saturated soils even in advance of Fiona, so whatever rain is falling is essentially running right off rather than soaking into the ground.

The rainfall is expected to continue as Fiona turns north and follows a path similar to Hurricane Earl earlier this year. Fiona is expected to become a major hurricane in the next few days and its path could take it near or over Bermuda, a worry for that island nation. Fortunately for PR, this storm does not have winds that are nearly as strong as in Hurricane Maria in 2017, but there are areas of PR that have still not recovered from Maria, so this will bring additional hardship to many, especially in southern and eastern parts of the island.

For us in the Southeast, the only effects are likely to be high waves and rip tides along the East Coast, since the continuing high pressure over our region that is keeping us dry this week is also blocking Fiona from coming closer to us.