The United States is predicted to be battered by the third tropical storm of 2025, which has formed in the Atlantic.
On Saturday morning, Tropical Storm Chantal was designated by the National Hurricane Center. In South Carolina, where a tropical storm warning is currently in place, forecasters anticipate that it will move northward and soon reach landfall.
The Alabama coast and inland regions are not in danger from Chantal, which is in the western Atlantic.
Tropical Storm Chantal was about 150 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and was moving northward at a speed of 2 mph as of Saturday at 7 a.m. CDT.
Chantal was a weak tropical storm with sustained winds of 40 mph. Chantal is not predicted to develop into a hurricane, but the hurricane center anticipates it to get a little stronger before heading onshore.
From the South Santee River in South Carolina to Cape Fear in North Carolina, a tropical storm warning is in force.
From Edisto Beach, South Carolina, to the South Santee River, a tropical storm watch is in effect.
People in other parts of the U.S. southeast coast should also monitor Chantal, according to the hurricane center.
By Sunday morning, Chantal is predicted to move onshore in South Carolina after tracking slowly north and then northwest.
South Carolina might see tropical storm conditions beginning Saturday evening, according to forecasters.
Flash flooding might result from the 2 to 4 inches of rain that the coastal area could receive, with isolated locations receiving up to 6 inches.
Additionally, portions of the coasts of North and South Carolina could experience a storm surge of one to three feet from Chantal.
Another worry is that the storm may generate dangerous rip currents far from its landfall and agitate the near-shore waters around the Southeast U.S. coast.
Dr. Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane scientist at Colorado State University, said that Chantal formed around a month ahead of schedule:
As of Saturday, the only region in the tropical Atlantic—which encompasses the Gulf and Caribbean—that is a cause for concern is Chantal.
This hurricane season has already seen two previous tropical storms, both of which were weak and transient.
The first storm of 2025, Andrea, formed in the central Atlantic on June 24 and had no landfall. On June 29, the second storm, Barry, moved onshore in eastern Mexico after weakening to a tropical depression in the southern Gulf (or Bay of Campeche).
This season, NOAA is predicting three to five significant hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger storms), six to ten hurricanes, and 17 to 19 named storms (both hurricanes and tropical storms).
NOAA reports that during an average Atlantic hurricane season, there are three major hurricanes, seven hurricanes, and fourteen named storms.
