Chantal — 2025

A low-pressure trough that moved off the Florida coast developed a well-defined surface circulation and became a tropical depression at 1800 UTC 4 July 2025 about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. It strengthened into Tropical Storm Chantal at 0600 UTC 5 July and moved generally north to north-northwest as steering currents changed. Chantal reached peak intensity near 0600 UTC 6 July while centered about 20 nautical miles south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, then weakened after moving ashore and became a post-tropical remnant low by 1200 UTC 7 July before opening into a trough offshore of the Delmarva Peninsula on 8 July. Chantal made landfall on Litchfield Beach, South Carolina, at about 0800 UTC 6 July as a tropical storm with 45-knot (about 52 mph) sustained winds and a central pressure near 1003 mb. After landfall the system moved into southeastern North Carolina and then inland across central North Carolina before weakening to a depression later on 6 July and producing heavy inland rainfall on 6–7 July. The storm’s maximum sustained winds peaked at 50 knots (about 58 mph) at 0600 UTC 6 July, with an estimated minimum central pressure of 1002 mb. At peak intensity Chantal was a tropical storm (it did not reach hurricane strength). The highest land-observed sustained wind was 41 kt (gust to 49 kt) at Springmaid Pier in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Storm surge was modest along the coast; the highest measured surge was 2.69 feet above normal at the Springmaid Pier tide gauge in Myrtle Beach, with most inundation levels less than 1 foot above ground level across the Southeast and no reported surge-caused damage. Rainfall was much more significant inland in central North Carolina: the highest reported total was 12.90 inches north of Pittsboro (Chatham County). Numerous CoCoRaHS sites near Pittsboro, Hillsborough, and Chapel Hill reported 9–12 inches, with broad 6–10 inch swaths across Chatham, Alamance, Orange, and Durham Counties. Rain totals in northeastern South Carolina were generally 4–6 inches, for example 5.01 inches at Loris in Horry County. There were six direct deaths attributed to Chantal, most from freshwater flooding in North Carolina: four people died after vehicles were submerged or swept away, and two drowned while canoeing on a lake during heavy rains. (A separate rip-current death on 4 July was judged unrelated to Chantal.) Flooding caused the most damage: record river crests occurred (for example the Eno River crested at 23.04 ft near Huckleberry Springs, the highest on record), more than 80 roads flooded in Chatham County with 33 water rescues, about 80 rescues in Durham County, 50 in Chapel Hill, and an estimated insured loss near $500 million. Coastal impacts near the landfall area in northeastern South Carolina were minor. Notable items: Chantal never became a hurricane but produced unusually intense, short-duration inland rainfall that exceeded 1000‑year 6‑hour recurrence intervals in places and set river-crest records on the Eno and Haw Rivers. NHC track forecasts were better than recent 5‑year means at 12 hours but underestimated the storm’s initial east-of-north motion, producing larger errors at 24–60 hours; intensity forecasts performed well and were generally better than recent climatology. Five tornadoes occurred in North Carolina (one EF‑0 and four EF‑1), adding to the inland impact.