WATCH: Storm Team 2 presents ‘Inside the Storm: Start 2 Finish'

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Every storm has a story, and many more have yet to be written. From each hurricane's beginning, thousands of miles across the Atlantic, to their dramatic end on our shores. Storm Team 2 is here to guide you season after season.
The responsibility of meteorologists is to look forward and predict what the future will hold. But in this special report, 'Inside the Storm: Start 2 Finish,' Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler and all of Storm Team 2 will turn back the clock and examine a hurricane from devastating landfall to its initial formation days before and thousands of miles away.
By taking this journey backwards in time, we hope to better understand exactly how these storms intensify, highlight how we forecast their impacts, and hopefully lead us to more effectively prepare for the upcoming hurricane season.
Every storm, even ones like the most recent, Helene, starts as small as a whisper thousands of miles away. As we rewind the clock from devastating landfall to the beginning of a storm, we want to show you how we prepare, forecast, and rebuild.
Prepare for the season with this Storm Team 2 Hurricane Ready Guide
We invite you to come along as we take you through the entire process of forecasting a hurricane from Start 2 Finish.
You'll see the cutting-edge technology used by meteorologists, the partnerships that help keep our communities safe, and the steps we take to ensure you're prepared for whatever the 2025 hurricane season might bring.
There are few storms that become a benchmark in time, an everlasting memory, and part of the fabric of a specific community. Hurricane Hugo was that for us; Hurricane Andrew for South Florida; Hurricane Camille for the Mississippi Gulf Coast; Hurricane Helene from last year joins that group.
It was a storm that broke many of the rules that reminding us that hurricanes are not just coastal storms. The impacts are far-reaching, and those impacts are still being felt today.
'Sound like a bomb went off. Not unlike anything I've ever been in.'
A recent trip to Chesnee, South Carolina, some eight months removed from Hurricane Helene's visit in late September of last year, and you can still see destruction. Chesnee is hundreds of miles from the normal hurricane breeding grounds, but the damage still in plain sight would rival anything along the coast.
They know tornadoes here, not hurricanes. 'No, no, I've been through tornadoes, but nothing like this,' said Chesnee resident Randy Henderson.
Kelly Lowe probably knows a bit more about all kinds of weather than some of her neighbors, having a daughter who just happens to be one of our Storm Team 2 meteorologists.
A recent drive through town with Grace at the wheel brought back so many memories of how the mindset went from 'we may get a day or two off from school' to days and weeks without power and essential supplies.
'We all had no power for ten days. Man, I don't want to do that again,' said Lowe.
Help came after the storm, including eight units you filled here in the Lowcountry with everything from diapers to grills. But the emotional toll was great. Reliving those days after the storm brings back stories of a community that felt cut off from the rest of the world.
'I've never had to stand in line and wait to get free water, and a propane tank, you know, filled up because I needed to feed my family. You know, we all cleaned out our freezer because the meat was going bad, and so we were cooking steaks, salmon, and everything we had — just feeding the community,' Lowe recalled.
How you can support Helene relief efforts
The stats on Helene were staggering. Some 250 deaths, 26 in South Carolina, close to $79 billion in damage. Dozens of confirmed tornadoes, including several right here in the Lowcountry. It was hard to escape the wrath of Helene.
'We're just not prepared for it here, you know,' said Lowe of the Upstate.
We know South Carolina was impacted greatly, but western North Carolina really took it on the chin. A shift in the track of Helene brought not just high winds, but rainfall, which would rival any landfalling hurricane along the coast.
A visit further inland, Chimney Rock, shows how the landscape has changed, as was the mindset about the next storm.
'Oh, it's hurricane season. We've got to get prepared now. Because before we would have never,' said Lowe.
Unfortunately, storms like Helene may become more commonplace with more people in harm's way and more people impacted, even well outside of what we normally consider the danger zone.
Meanwhile, back in Chesnee, Randy Henderson just got back into his house. He had lived with his daughter since the storm. He knows he is lucky.
'Everybody's helped out. I can't say it enough. Just friends and family. That's who you got in this world. That's who you got,' he said.
Helene will most likely never be forgotten. And there's a good chance this storm will be studied time and time again for its inland path and its behavior far removed from what is normally its main energy source — Warm water.
Not every storm is Helene, and it does matter where a storm sets up.
Helene brought historic flooding, damaging winds, and even tornadoes to parts of the Carolinas. But of course, not every storm unfolds the same way. And in every situation, minor details matter. For example, there would be a drastic difference for vulnerable downtown Charleston if a hurricane made landfall on Kiawah, Folly, or even Morris Island compared to Sullivan's Island.
When a hurricane nears landfall, its intensity and exact track are critical in determining what impacts an area may see. Take Hurricane Helene, its quick movement, large size, the fully saturated soils ahead of time, and terrain-enhanced rainfall caused unprecedented freshwater flash flooding across western North Carolina, some 250 miles away from the coast.
By contrast, Hurricane Florence in 2018 came to a halt offshore, maximizing inland flooding closer to the coastline of the Appalachians only received a few inches.
You might remember Hurricane Matthew. It also brought inland flooding to the Carolinas, but the storm surge and winds were the biggest impact.
Extra water on top of the normal ocean level, if you will. What we worry about is how much and when it is going to happen, and where. If it happens at a low tide, the impacts will be a little bit lower. If it happens at a high tide, they'll be higher,' explained Ron Morales, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
When forecasting for the country, no storm is the same. Therefore, Storm Team 2 has to focus on different variables, like where the right side of the storm sets up.
That side is usually the most dangerous with stronger winds, heavier rain, more storm surge, and a higher tornado risk, too. Tropical Storm Debby was a great example of this.
And, of course, examining one of the strongest storms to ever hit the South Carolina coast, Hurricane Hugo, in 1989. No other storm has ever topped the 12.52 feet recorded at the tidal gauge in the Charleston Harbor.
Hugo's landfall on Sullivan's Island spared downtown Charleston an even worse fate.
'Had Hugo made landfall just a few miles south of, say, Folly or whatever, it would have produced significantly higher winds and higher storm surge values,' said Morales.
You may have experienced no issues whatsoever with the recent storm that moved through the Lowcountry, but that does not mean you won't with the next one. It only takes one storm to make it a bad season.
Download the Storm Team 2 Hurricane Ready Guide
Our partnership with our local National Weather Service office, local emergency managers, and first responders, like the Coast Guard, ensures that you get timely alerts when a storm threatens.
We are your trusted voice, delivering clear, specific forecasts and updates. Not every storm will mirror Helene, Hugo, or any other, but everyone demands respect.
Forecasting a storm two to three days out — when you're that close to landfall, the timing is critical for knowing how fast the storm is going, the intensity, and, of course, pinpointing the landfall.
To get that information, we turn to the Hurricane Hunters.
'You can get very intense up there. A storm can change. You know, it could be fairly smooth on one pass, it could be really rough on another.
Flying into the eye of a storm is not an easy task, but a necessary mission for the NOAA Hurricane Hunters.
'Everyone on board is laser-focused. No matter how tumultuous the environment may be.'
'I am the one that helps us navigate through the storms,' said Sofia De Solo of her role with the Hurricane Hunters. 'We fly into the hurricanes and we're collecting data that we wouldn't have otherwise.'
She continued, 'We have several radars that collect data and also our dropsondes, our dropsondes, collect temperature, dew point, pressure, and wind speed as they fall down to the surface. They have a parachute.'
The data they collect is crucial for the few days leading up to a possible landfall. 'We put ourselves at risk in the sense that we fly into these hurricanes, but we have major respect for the intensity of these storms,' said De Solo.
'How do you get data where there's no weather station? So we have to go out there for us to get the data to the NHC, National Hurricane Center, so they can update their forecasts, protecting property and lives. You know, that's what we're here for,' said Andrew Reeves, the pilot of the P-3.
All of this data combines into models we use, and you may recognize, like the 'cone of uncertainty,' to create a complex forecast.
'All of that is getting fed into the operational forecast models that predict where the storm is going to go and how strong it's going to be when it gets there. And so the more data, the more accurate data we can collect up in the storm, the better those forecasts are going to be, and the earlier we can warn people to get out of the way,' said Nick Underwood, an aerospace engineer with NOAA.
With the few days ahead of landfall, this is a partnership in forecasting to give you the latest and up-to-date information during a window of time when you may need to make a lifesaving decision.
'Those are what emergency managers are using to issue evacuation orders. It's what people at home are watching so closely to figure out, okay, the storm's coming my way, I have a couple of days to prepare my home. I have a couple of days to evacuate. I have a couple of days to help my neighbors and make sure that they are prepared for the storm,' said Underwood.
There are numerous passes through a storm, with several trained meteorologists on board, and continuous data flowing from instrumentation to create, maintain, or even adjust the most accurate forecast.
'It's all about protecting life and property, and, you know, we play our part in that. The Hurricane Center plays their part, the researchers play their part, and without that collaboration, without that teamwork, all of this really comes crashing down, and people don't have that warning that they need to, again, keep themselves and their communities safe,' said Underwood.
And what sparks all of this is put into motion just a few days before, when we are several days out from a landfall.
Forecasting a tropical system five to seven days out is difficult. But you're already receiving information from several different sources. So, pinpointing which sources are truthful and which sources are just looking for your attention is important.
'Everything is available. The model data, the satellite data, the radar data.'
Imagine a room full of different scientists, each of them an expert on hurricanes. Each of them has a slightly different view on what makes a hurricane tick. Now, let's give each scientist brightly colored markers and ask them to draw on a map where they think a hurricane will travel. Now, imagine those scientists are actually supercomputers. The result is spaghetti plots.
'If anybody were to look at those at each time to try to make decisions, you'd be misled. The Hurricane Center looks at all of that, comes up with their best track, and then makes smaller adjustments through time,' explained Morales.
Even with only slightly different personalities, these models can vastly disagree with each other.
'It may over four, seven days, it may come back to that solution. But there is no way you would know that. They don't make a move on that final determination of direction, speed, intensity of that storm until they get the aircraft data in,' Morales said.
What if the water is warmer than forecasted? Maybe colder? The shear is stronger, weaker, maybe the high pressure steering the whole hurricane is stronger than forecasted. These little tweaks are purposefully put into these computers.
'The models are getting much better, but that's still a big challenge for our science,' Morales said.
The cone is also another powerful tool that uses similar data input. It is not a reflection of the damage path, only the center of the hurricane. Damage can occur far outside the cone's forecasted path.
'Our mission at the National Weather Service is not to get ratings, is to not have accolades and get a pat on the back. Our mission is the protection of life and property, number one, and our media partners combine that with your mission, which is to get the word out.
Storm Team 2 lives and works in the same communities that we forecast for. We're your neighbors, we have a vested interest in giving you the best information available when we know it. We take great pride in empowering our communities with information to make informed choices.
Satellite and weather radar are two of the main tools we use during daily weather forecasts, but even more important, when it comes to extreme weather events like tropical storms and hurricanes.
The changes in our weather tools over these many years have helped improve our forecasts. But we know there will always be a curveball, as each and every storm does have its own identity. That can be the hardest part of what we do.
April 1st, 1960, the world's first weather satellite was launched TIROS-1, as it was called, only lasted 78 days. The photos were not of great quality, but the door had been opened to a whole new world of weather forecasting.
We needed that satellite perspective during Hurricane Hugo. The storm grew to some 600 miles in diameter on the Thursday before landfall.
Can you imagine how hard it would be to forecast without this view from above? I think we know the answer. All you have to do is go back to September of 1900. It was the great Galveston hurricane. Some 12,000 people may have perished in the storm. Many did not know what was coming.
While the satellites are extremely important, what happened in World War II may have been just as vital.
On a dare, Lieutenant Colonel Joe Duckworth, using an AT-6 Texan aircraft, flew into a hurricane. And with this, the Hurricane Hunter program was born.
'Year after year, no matter how strong a storm is, no matter where the storms are going, we are at the ready to go out, fly, collect this data, provide it to the Hurricane Center to feed those forecasts,' said Underwood.
Storm Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Rob Fowler has had the opportunity to fly into a hurricane — Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
'It was a bumpy ride, but it gave me an even greater appreciation for what these men and women take on every season,' said Fowler.
The most important part, the technology and tools, are getting better.
'So this is a Black Swift S0. This is one of our uncrewed aerial systems,' shared Underwood. 'And the goal of these is that they can fly down a lot lower into the storm than we can safely get into and collect data that we otherwise wouldn't be able to get.'
We have certainly come a long way in satellite, radar, and computer modeling. 'For someone who has spent 43 years in the weather business, I've seen so many lifesaving advancements,' said Fowler. 'For instance, back in 1989, we showed you a 72-hour forecast track. Today, we can show you a five-day track with an even lower margin of error. Hurricane tracking is still a work in progress, but we are making strides.'
Advancements in technology will continue, which is imperative since more and more people are moving into areas where hurricane season becomes a way of life. We know the lure of water is great, and many of us understand the risk of living near hurricane breeding grounds.
As we move through this hurricane season, remember, it only takes one storm to make it a bad year. But with Storm Team 2 by your side, you'll be ready to weather any challenge. Stay safe, and we'll guide you through this hurricane season.
If you would like to donate to ongoing hurricane relief efforts in the South Carolina Upstate or Western North Carolina, please click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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