Nestor douses region in quick visit

WILMINGTON – In the end, Tropical Storm Nestor's biggest contribution to Southeastern North Carolina was helping shake lose some of the early fall foliage.

On Sunday morning, soggy leaves, snapped twigs and receding puddles were the only indication of Nestor's quick pass by the night before.

The late-season storm, the 14th named storm of the 2019 hurricane season, arrived late Saturday and was gone before many church services began Sunday, bringing with it less rain than forecast but some gusty winds in the overnight hours.

As of 8 a.m. Sunday, the National Weather Service's Wilmington office had recorded 1.65 inches of rain, a little below the 2-4 inches forecast ahead of Nestor's arrival. The heaviest rain fell just across the South Carolina border in Little River, which recorded 3.72 inches by Sunday morning.

Still, any rain is better than no rain, which has been the case more often than not this year. Before Nestor, Wilmington was around 11 inches of rain below its annual average.

"For the month, we were about 3.5 inches behind, so Saturday and Sunday's rain helped us out for sure," said Dave Loewenthal, a forecaster with the NWS Wilmington.

Loewenthal said they were still collecting rain totals from farther inland communities, but those early reports pointed to around 3 inches of rain.

During the storm, the region saw a peak wind gust of 41 mph.

As for damage, nothing major beyond broken branches was reported early Sunday.

But Loewenthal did say they were dispatching an assessment team to the south end of Mrytle Beach to follow up on reports of a possible tornado touchdown.

"It looks like it could be tornadic damage, but we won't know until we get down there," he said.

Sunday morning brought plenty of sunshine and warmer tham normal temperatures, but the week ahead could be active with more storm chances.

Loewenthal said rain is in the forecast for Tuesday and Friday, with the warmer temperatures sticking around through Wednesday before dipping back to normal.

For mid-October, the average daily high is 73 degrees with a nighttime low of 50.

Nestor made landfall Saturday morning in St. Vincent Island, Florida, with 50 mph winds. It quickly lost its tropical features as it moved northeast across the south, before exiting back over the Atlantic Ocean Sunday afternoon.

Reporter Hunter Ingram can be reached at 910-343-2327 or Hunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com.