Rainfall In Extremis: South Carolina's Brush with Hurricane Joaquin

摘要

In late September, an intense hurricane named Joaquin developed into the 10th named tropical cyclone of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. While the hurricane remained over the open ocean throughout its entire northward trek (a so-called "fish storm"), some of its moisture may have been stripped off, contributing to a catastrophic flood over South Carolina. Figure 1 shows the rain accumulation over the Southeast. The principal storm delivering this rain was an intense Nor'easter, characteristic of late fall-winter off the southeast United States coast. The rainfall was truly biblical, with a maximum of 27 inches close to Charleston, South Carolina.