Tropical storm dumps rain on N.C. coast, then weakens

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Tropical Storm Cristobal dumped rain and brought rough seas to the North Carolina coast Sunday, and forecasters predicted the weakening system was headed for the open Atlantic.

At 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said the center of the storm had moved to 45 miles east of Cape Lookout and 40 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras with maximum sustained winds continuing at 45 mph. The storm was moving to the northeast at 8 mph.

The advisory said the storm's center would head away from the coast early Monday.

The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning from Cape Lookout to the Virginia-North Carolina border, including Pamlico Sound.

The storm's strongest winds were east of the center, out at sea, National Weather Service meteorologist Rich Bandy said. Winds on the coastal side of the storm were about 25 mph and will have little impact on coastal cities unless the storm strengthens.

"There is a little more rain than earlier in the day," Bandy said. "It's not like the whole area is being inundated."

Bandy said some rain was falling over the smoldering wildfire that has burned 64 square miles in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge since it was started by lightning June 1.

"We're still seeing fairly continuous bands of showers and isolated thunderstorms moving through eastern North Carolina," said Mark Willis, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service bureau in Newport. "There are going to be some areas that don't receive anything and other areas will get several inches."

Rainfall was expected to be 1 to 2 inches with isolated amounts of 4 to 5 inches in areas where heavy rain bands passed overhead, said Bandy.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Dolly, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, unleashed showers on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as it sped toward the Cancun area on Sunday. It was expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning.

A tropical storm warning was issued for the Yucatan peninsula.

Tropical storms have maximum sustained winds of at least 39 mph.