But at this point, on August 17th, 1987, we were headed to Myrtle Beach, SC. Gail's egg donor as she is known now was down at the beach with 2 of her friends. Gail and I were going down to spend the weekend. The most interesting thing, we were headed down as Hurricane Charley was skirting the coast. Gail drove her jeep with soft sides and roof. I remember how utilitarian the jeep felt with the metal doors that thudded when you closed them. As we got closer to the coast we could see the clouds from the hurricane north of us, the swirling pattern. It was quite scary. It was still very windy and it felt like the top of the jeep was going to come off. By the time we got to Wilmington and turned south toward Myrtle Beach, it was much better. The storm was in our rear view mirror. My nickname at that time was Charlie. It was what I used at the Canton Station to assist with writing out the tickets that we used to order food and the customers used to pay for their meals. The announcer on the radio kept talking about Hurricane Charley with Gail force winds. We made a joke out of it. There were moments in that jeep on the ride down that were disconcerting. In our own funny way, we found ourselves saying "Hurricane Charley with Gail force winds...Watch out Myrtle Beach.
We made it safely to the condo and after meeting Gail's egg donor friends, and getting settled in, we went on to sleep. We knew when we arrived at the condo, that we would be sleeping on the couch. I took the floor.
The next morning we were up and getting ready to go out to the beach. Myrtle Beach is a very busy beach. We found our places outside and just stood in the water, or sat on the chairs watching the waves. I do remember standing out in the water further out than Gail and she could see a wave getting ready to clobber me. I either ducked under or jumped up but either way I made it. All I had to see were her eyes getting bigger and bigger.
We spent some time up in the condo with the ladies also. I remember one of the friends had these cysts all over her face. She was actually digging them out. It left scars but evidently she wanted them out.
Our DM at K-Rentals had heard we were going down and gave me the key to the company condo. He said he didn't know if anyone had the condo that weekend and if we got caught there it would be on us. Nice guy eh? But, gave us the opportunity to go down and see how the rich half of that business lives.
It was a quick weekend trip but we had a great time as usual.
Hurricane Charley - August 17, 1986
https://www.weather.gov/mhx/HurricaneCharley1986Review
Overview
Hurricane Charley spawned from a trough of low pressure that persisted over south Florida and the southeast Gulf of Mexico. Showers and thunderstorms associated with this system first appeared over the Florida peninsula on August 11th, 1986. The activity spread into the eastern Gulf of Mexico the next day, when surface observations indicated a very broad area of low pressure formed. The poorly defined, diffuse system drifted north on the 12th and 13th and became better organized over the Florida panhandle and Georgia as it merged into a decaying frontal trough. Continuing to improve in organization, the low emerged off the Georgia/South Carolina coast during the morning of the 15th, when it became a tropical depression. By mid-afternoon, the depression strengthened into a tropical storm. A weak ridge north of the storm led to a slow east to northeast drift. A trough amplified west of the storm over the eastern United States, resulting in a more northerly motion on the 17th and 18th. Charley recurved more to the eastward by the 19th and weakened as it merged with a frontal zone. By the 21st, as an extratropical low, Charley significantly deepened and became a large, strong storm which migrated to Europe, and eventually dissipated in the North Sea.
Track of Hurricane Charley, August 12-18, 1986 (Courtesy National Hurricane Center)
Charley crossed the coast of North Carolina as a minimal hurricane, producing locally strong wind gusts, peaking at 80 mph in Frisco. Charley produced heavy amounts of rain falling along the coast, with up to 7 inches near Manteo. As Charley moved ashore, the storm produced high tides, reaching 5.78 feet at the Duck Coe Fishing Pier. A woman drowned near Cape Hatteras while attempting to drive through a flooded roadway. Roads and bridges across the Outer Banks were flooded with up to 3 feet of water, including a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 near Hatteras Island. The storm left about 8,000 people without power, but overall damage was minimal and limited to shingles and roofs. Statewide, the impact was primarily caused by tidal flooding and downed trees, and a preliminary damage estimate placed total monetary losses at $400,000 in 1986 dollars.
Satellite photograph of Hurricane Charley near peak intensity off of the North Carolina coast, August 17, 1986.
Rainfall Totals from Hurricane Charley August 12-17, 1986
(Courtesy David Roth, Weather Prediction Center)
Flooding in Ireland from Hurricane Charley, August 1986.
Interestingly, Charley continued across the Atlantic as an extratropical cyclone and became one of the strongest storms to ever effect Ireland. The counties of Dublin and Wicklow were badly hit and there was extensive damage to homes and businesses with the River Dargle and the River Dodder both overflowing their banks.
SOURCES
National Hurricane Ceneer
CASE STUDY TEAM:
Chris Collins
Wikipedia - Definition of Gale force winds:
The most common way of measuring winds is with the Beaufort scale, which defines a gale as wind from 50 to 102 km/h. It is an empirical measure for describing wind speed based mainly on observed sea conditions. Its full name is the Beaufort Wind Force Scale.
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