Hurricane Ophelia is continuing to generally maintain her intensity and putt around off the Carolina coast. Ophelia is, however, starting to lose potential because of her stagnant motion.

As hurricanes spin over the ocean, they upwell colder water from below the surface. If the hurricane does not move very much, it will stay over the upwelled cooler water and basically exhaust its fuel supply in one location. At this point, Ophelia seems to be feeling the effects of the upwelling. However, the Gulf Stream is near by and importing plenty of deep water to at least maintain its general current intensity.

The models still have no consensus of where to track Ophelia. NHC's official forecast track calls for a clip of the coast. However, I am considering it likely that Ophelia may stay out to sea.