Subtropical Storm Beryl

Unfortunately, just in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, an area of low pressure off the coast of the Carolinas has developed into Subtropical Storm Beryl, already the season's second named storm.

Wait..."subtropical"? What's that?

Unlike a purely "tropical" cyclone, a "subtropical" depression or storm:

Tends to have more thunderstorm activity farther from its center.
Tends to have its strongest winds farther from the center.

"Subtropical" cyclones have cooler air at any given level in the atmosphere than "tropical" cyclones. They can transition to purely tropical cyclones or hurricanes, but to do so, they'd have to suddenly generate enough thunderstorms wrapping around closer to their low-level center to warm the core of the circulation.

Like Alberto, Beryl won't simply shift east into open waters, but rather meander around the Southeast coast, bringing occasional bands of rain, gusty winds, elevated surf, and a risk of rip currents for parts of the coast at times this weekend.

Tropical storm warnings have been hoisted for parts of the Southeast coast. As we mentioned above, given this is a "subtropical" storm, the strongest winds may arrive in the warned areas well in advance of the landfall of Beryl.

Let's break it down day by day this holiday weekend...

- Saturday: Bands of rain, at times, along the coasts of N.C. and S.C. Strongest winds from Outer Banks spreading southward along S.C. coast. Breezy along Florida's First and Space coasts.

- Sunday: Beryl should come ashore in northeast Fla. or Ga. coast. Bands of rain, thunderstorms possible eastern Carolinas to north, central Florida (apart from typical sea-breeze PM t-storms elsewhere in Florida). Breezy/windy extreme northeast Fla. to eastern Carolinas.

- Memorial Day: Beryl weakens inland over far north Fla. or extreme south Ga. Lighter south-southeast lingering breezes from northeast/east-central Fla. coast to S.C., & N.C. coasts. Lingering showers and thunderstorms, particularly in northern Florida.

(MORE: Your local forecast)

On the bright side...a large swath of the Southeast is suffering from extreme or exceptional drought. Beryl will eventually help deliver some rainfall, but it will take much more rainfall to quench a drought of this severity.