Tracking Ernesto – Day 2 (Thursday)

5 a.m. – I wake up to the sound of rain whipping against my hotel window. I get up and look outside. It’s a downpour and the trees are whipping in the wind. It’s here already? The rain slows down a few minutes later and I fall back asleep.

8 a.m. – I look out the hotel window and the ground is wet but it’s not raining. I turn on the TV and look at the radar. It shows a break in the rain and I learn the storm isn’t expected to make landfall until later today.

10 a.m. – I meet Brad and our photographer Jen in the hotel lobby. Jen takes one look at me and laughs. I’m wearing cotton pants, running shoes and a WCNC jacket. She asks where my waterproof gear is. I don’t have any. Another sign that I’m a rookie in covering storms like this. She runs upstairs and grabs her extra pair of waterproof pants.

10:15 a.m. – As we take the five minute drive from our hotel to the beach, I notice traffic is pretty heavy for a Thursday morning and the rain is light. We pull into the public access parking lot for Cherry Grove Beach and we’re the only ones here. Our sat truck sits alone in an empty beach parking lot. The rain has picked up a bit from drizzle to light rain.

10:30 a.m. – As I sit inside Storm Chaser, sheltered from the rain, it starts to pour. Brad comes in the truck and says the rain gauge shows 2.9 inches of rain an hour. I look at the cars driving down the street and I notice they’re spraying water so it looks like we’re already starting to see some minor street flooding. It’s not as deserted as I thought it would be. There are a lot of cars on the road and people are standing on their hotel balconies looking out at the ocean waiting for the storm to approach.

10:45 a.m. – Brad comes back inside the truck and checks the rain gauge. Since we’ve been here we’ve seen .71 inches of rain. The surf has come up since yesterday. The swells are up to about five feet. Brad says the winds have shifted from southwest to the northeast so it’s not as windy as it was yesterday. The pressure has slowly fallen this morning, a sign Brad says that the storm is coming. The latest track shows the eye of the storm passing just over us or just to the west. Brad turns and looks at me. “We’re going to get clobbered,” he says with a smile. We should see the strongest winds here in North Myrtle Beach. Winds are expected to be 70 mph when the storm makes landfall around 9 p.m. The landfall keeps getting pushed back because the track keeps moving further north. The further up the coast the later landfall will be.

11 a.m. – We’ve recorded more than an inch of rain since we’ve been here and it hasn’t even been an hour. The National Weather Service has reissued a Hurricane Watch for areas along the coast. Winds must be 75 mph or greater for a category one hurricane, and we’re expecting winds around 70 mph so it will be just under hurricane strength.

11:15 a.m. – Nicole Konkal is standing on a walkway that leads to the beach for her live shots for the newscast. There is a small building with two bathrooms and that’s where NBC Newschannel is set up. Their reporter stands on a box just outside the bathroom and the photographer is set up inside. He’s pointing his camera out the small window, which is very smart. His camera stays dry and so does he. They’re here doing live shots for NBC stations across the country so they’ll be out in the weather all day long.

11:30 a.m. – The waves are still about five feet and I spotted some surfers out in the water. Emergency management has advised people to stay out of the water, but that didn’t stop this family vacationing from New York from trying to catch some big waves.

12:00 p.m. – I take a drive with Jen in Storm Chaser along the street that runs parallel to the ocean. A few people are out with their umbrellas and most of the hotel parking lots that line the beach are packed with cars.

12:30 p.m. – Winds are still calm and it’s very humid. The rain continues to fall at a steady pace, but it hasn’t been very heavy. Brad looks at the computer models in Storm Chaser and says it looks like an eye is starting to form. Swells are now expected to be around 18 feet.

1:00 p.m. – Waves are six feet and building. We’ve seen about two inches of rain at our location so far today. The temperature is mid 70s with 100 percent humidity. Winds are around 10-15 mph.

2:00 p.m.– The rain is really starting to come down. Four surfers just sprinted past me with their boards. I can see about a dozen surfers in the water and now two men on jet skis joined them.

2:30 p.m. – It’s now a light drizzle here and vacationers have come out of their rooms onto the beach. A mother and her two young sons are playing in the water as about a dozen surfers continue to ride the waves.

3 p.m. – Bob and Steve decide to move the sat truck closer to a two-story motel to protect the dish from the wind. When the storm rolls ashore winds are expected to be just under hurricane strength. The truck is now located in the motel’s parking lot next to the public beach access.

3:15 p.m. - Jen pulls cable onto the second floor balcony of the motel. This will shelter us from the storm and it also gives a better view of the ocean. She ran power from the truck so I’m able to plug my laptop in. I’m set up on two white plastic chairs.

6:30 p.m. – We break for dinner after live shots for the newscasts.

7:30 p.m. – On our way back to the sat truck the wind and rain start to pick up. There’s some minor street flooding around town and we pull into a gas station for Jen to get out and shoot some video.

8 p.m. – We’re back on the second floor of the hotel taking cover waiting to see how bad the storm will be. Brad looks at the hotel pool and says, “You know it’s rained a lot when the water in the pools overflows.”

9:15 p.m. – The wind is blowing hard. It’s blowing the rain and sand across the empty parking lot in front of us. I’m sitting on the back side of the hotel, protected by the wind and rain. My laptop sits on a white plastic chair. We put a spotlight on the ocean and the surf seems to have died down. The waves are around 3 feet and Brad says that’s because the wind has shifted.

9:30 p.m. – The wind continues to blow the rain sideways. Brad goes to Storm Chaser and sees that we’re in the western eye wall. Top gusts are 50 mph with sustained winds around 30 mph. It’s starting to thunder and lighting quite a bit and I’m starting to get nervous. I don’t mind the wind and the rain, it’s the lighting that makes me nervous.

9:45 p.m. – I hear a horrible clang and look out to see a road sign flying down the road clanging on the asphalt. I keep thinking people are taking pictures, but it’s lighting and a lot of it. The thunder starts to roar and it rumbles for several seconds. I’m trying to take pictures during all of this, but it just looks like a wet parking lot. You can’t see the wind tearing across the parking lot driving the rain back into the ocean. Several vacationers who stayed to ride out the storm are standing on the balcony with us taking pictures. It’s an amazing sight. This is only a tropical storm. I can’t imagine what a hurricane would look like. It’s hard to see the building next to us it’s raining so hard.

10 p.m. – Brad comes back from Storm Chaser and we’re in the western eye wall of the storm. Sustained winds are about 40 mph with gusts as high as 60 mph. Radar indicated a shear marker, which indicated rotation, moving away from land. Brad says this was either a tornado or water spout, but there’s no way to tell since it’s moving away from us. Brad says lighting is very rare in a tropical system because the air mass is warm and lighting is usually associated with cold and warm air mixed. The lighting is an indication of intense storms inside the eye wall.

10:15 p.m. – The worst seems to be over now. The winds have died down and I haven’t seen any lighting in the past 15 minutes or so. I can see the ocean again now and even the building next to us. The rain has turned into a whipping mist. The hard drops aren’t falling anymore, it’s more a swirling mist.

10:30 p.m. – The eye of the storm is expected to make landfall north of Myrtle Beach near Holden Beach in about 45 minutes.

11 p.m. – Brad and Jen walk out into the parking lot to report live for the 11 p.m. newscast. The rain seemed to have died down a bit, but it picked right back up shortly before 11. As Brad and Jen stand out in the pouring rain, the wind throws the drops right in their faces. Brad tries to shield his face but he can’t really do much. The rain is pelting him in the face right as Sonja tosses to him. Of course, I find it entertaining because I’m sitting under a protective cover watching and taking pictures. When they’re done with they’re shot they come back in soaked to the bone. For some reason they didn’t find it as entertaining as I did.

11:15 p.m. - The eye of the storm is making landfall near Holden Beach right now. We're now on the first floor of the hotel. A woman comes out of her room and asks Brad if he’s with the news. I’m not sure what gave it away. She asks him to sign her umbrella. As Brad signs the umbrella the woman talks about the storm. She’s visiting from Philadelphia.

11:30 p.m. – As we pack up to head back to the hotel for the night we realize we’re lucky because the storm never knocked out power.

Wednesday - Day 1

We plan to bring you live coverage from the center of the storm with our web cam. We’ll also be posting video and photos from our crews in the field.

11 a.m. – I head out the door with satellite truck operator Steve for Charleston, South Carolina where Ernesto is expected to make landfall Thursday afternoon. We’re driving down in Steve’s station vehicle to meet Nicole Konkal and the satellite truck, parked in Charleston. As I get in the truck Steve tells me the sat truck is in motion headed north to the Myrtle Beach area. So instead of Charleston, we’re now headed to Myrtle Beach…we think. Since the truck is in motion, we’re still not sure where it will end up. It all depends on the track of the storm. We want to be wherever the storm makes landfall and with the storm still in Florida, its track is hard to predict.

12:00 p.m. – We’ve been on the road for an hour now. I have a wireless card in my laptop so I’m able to connect to the Internet and publish straight to WCNC.com. I just checked the latest update on Ernesto and learned the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression and is mostly a rain event for Florida. It is still expected to head back into the Atlantic and make landfall again along the South Carolina coast.

12:15 p.m. – Steve gets a phone call from Bob, the morning sat truck operator. The truck is now headed to North Myrtle Beach. That may change again depending the storm’s path, but that’s where we’re headed now.

12:35 p.m. – I get a phone call from our assistant news director telling me I will be live at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to talk about preps in North and South Carolina and what’s available online. 6NEWS Meteorologist Brad Panovich is about an hour ahead of us on the road headed for North Myrtle Beach also. His photographer will shoot my live shot, which will follow Brad’s live report.

3:00 – We pull into North Myrtle Beach to lots of sun and sand. As I step out of the truck I notice how strong the winds are. I walk over to Brad Panovich who says these winds are a bit stronger than normal. I’m surprised to see dozens of people on the beach. Some are with families and others are strolling along the water’s edge. The surf is rough, but nothing like I’m expecting to see tomorrow.

4:00 – I’ve found a picnic table along the beach to set up our live web cam. I grabbed a garbage bag from the truck and wrapped the keyboard to try and protect it from the blowing sand.

4:45 – After my first live hit for the 4:30 newscast, I go to grab my digital camera to take some “behind the scenes” photos. As I rummage through the truck I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. I left our digital camera sitting on my desk at work!! Can you believe it! I’ve left one of the most important pieces of technical equipment behind. Now what?

5:00 – I’m back in business thanks to our trustworthy sat truck operator Bob. He remembered to bring his personal digital camera, which is the same as ours. So the software is the same and I can upload the photos. Bob saves the day!

6:30 p.m. – Brad and I have finished our live shots for the newscasts and we head to the hotel to check in. It’s about five minutes from our live location.

7:00 p.m. – After checking into the hotel we head to dinner. As we drive around I’m surprised to see so many people out and about. With an impending storm about to hit, I expected it to be a ghost town. I guess this just goes to show that this is obviously the first storm I’ve covered.

8:30 p.m. – We’re back at the sat truck preparing for the 11 p.m. newscast. Brad is working inside Storm Chaser keeping an eye on the storm. He’s attracted quite a crowd. Several people in the area have stopped by to see what’s inside this big truck with ‘Storm Chaser’ written on the side.

11:30 p.m. - We're done with our live hits for the 11 p.m. newscast and we're headed back to the hotel.