Hurricane Gaston, August 2004
Preliminary - updated 2004/09/01
Event Headlines
...Hurricane Gaston was the 7th named storm of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season...
...4 of the first 7 named storms have impacted North Carolina...
...Hurricane Gaston made landfall near Charleston, S.C., then moved north across central North Carolina and eastern Virginia as a Tropical Depression...
...Rain bands well in advance of Gaston produced a tornado over Hoke County during Sunday afternoon, damaging several homes and trees...
...A swath of 2 to 4 inches of rain fell along Gaston’s path Sunday night and Monday in central North Carolina with isolated reports of 5 to 6 inches of rain...
Overview
Tropical Depression Gaston formed off the South Carolina coast, about 140 miles southeast of Charleston, at 500 PM Friday, August 27,
2004. The system moved little during Friday night and strengthened to Tropical Storm status while it moved to within 130 miles of Charleston
by 11 AM Saturday, August 28, 2004. Gaston moved slowly northwest toward the Southeast coast Saturday night and turned toward the
north on Sunday morning.
Radar and satellite imagery showed that Gaston continued to get better organized as it approached the coast.
Doppler radar observations indicate that Gaston reached hurricane strength just before it made landfall near
Awendaw, South Carolina, between Charleston and McClellanville, around 1000 AM Sunday, with maximum
sustained winds estimated near 75 MPH with a minimum pressure of 986 millibars.
Gaston weakened rapidly once it was over land during the late morning and afternoon hours while maintaining a slow northward movement
across northeastern South Carolina. By 800 PM, Gaston was downgraded to a Tropical Depression while centered 20 miles east of
Florence, S.C. Sustained winds were lowered to near 35 mph with higher gusts.
The system remained at tropical depression status as it slowly moved north-northeast across central North Carolina Sunday night and
Monday. The circulation center tracked from just west of Lumberton at around 1200 AM Sunday to near Fort Bragg at around 400 AM, and then about
20 mile southeast of Raleigh at about 1100 AM. The center of the depression passed near Nashville at around 100 PM and finally reached the North
Carolina and Virginia border near Roanoke Rapids at about 400 PM Monday.
Hurricane Gaston Track
After an initially erratic motion, Gaston followed a general arc to the northwest, north, and then
northeast across the Carolinas and Virginia.
Hurricane Gaston Track
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
Detailed Hurricane Gaston Track
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
Precipitation Totals from Hurricane Gaston
The map below contains precipitation totals during the period in which Gaston impacted North
Carolina (from 800 AM EDT on Sunday, August 29 through 800 AM EDT on Tuesday, August 31).
It is important to note that some of the rain that fell across western North Carolina on
Sunday, August 29, and late on Monday, August 30 was only indirectly related to Gaston.
Note the corridor of rain in excess of 2 inches that stretches across the central and eastern
Piedmont of North Carolina. Note the somewhat unusual extent of the significant rain (greater
than 2 inches) which appears to extend further away from the center on the western side of the
storm track than on the east.
Maximum Wind Gusts from Hurricane Gaston
The map below contains the maximum wind gusts from Tropical Depression Gaston as it moved
across North Carolina. The map shows a relatively homogenous distribution of wind gusts in the 30
to 35 MPH range across much of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Not surprisingly, the greatest
wind gusts were observed near the track of the circulation center, especially across the Sandhills region.
Gaston was weakening as it crossed South Carolina and North Carolina, this meant that
the Sandhills region experienced the storm while it had lost the least of its intensity.
The highest wind gusts were observed at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport where a wind gust
reached 45 MPH as well as at the Fayetteville Regional Airport and the Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station
where gusts reached 39 MPH.
Radar Imagery of Hurricane Gaston
Long Radar Loop from KRAX Covering Gaston's Complete Track across NC
This loop of base reflectivity imagery from krax contains an image every 30 minutes from 159 PM EDT (1759Z) on
Sunday, August 29 through 500 PM EDT (2100Z) on Monday, August 30, 2004. (this may take a few minutes to download,
total file size is about ~ 3 Megs)
Load Long Loop.
Short Radar Loop from KRAX Covering Gaston's Track across Central NC
This loop of base reflectivity imagery from krax contains an image every 60 minutes from
1202 AM EDT (0402Z) on
Monday, August 30 through 357 PM EDT (1957Z) on Monday, August 30, 2004. (this may take a few moments
to download,
total file size is about ~ 0.9 Megs)
Load Short Loop.
Krax Base Reflectivity Radar Imagery of Hurricane Gaston on Monday, August 30 at 630 AM EDT (1030Z).
(Click on the image to enlarge.)
Photographs of the Crabtree Creek in Raleigh and a downed tree in North Raleigh during the passage of Tropical Depression Gaston.
(Click the image to enlarge.)
Case study team -
Michael Brennan
Phil Badgett
Mike Strickler
Jonathan Blaes
For questions regarding the web site, please contact
Jonathan Blaes.
NWS Disclaimer.
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