How will Hurricane Dorian affect the Miami Hurricanes’ trip to UNC? Here’s the answer

The hurricanes could arrive in North Carolina on Friday — both the Miami Hurricanes and Hurricane Dorian.

The 11 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday forecasts Dorian to potentially make landfall in North Carolina on Friday — the same day Miami is slated to travel to Chapel Hill for a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

While Kenan Memorial Stadium itself is not in the path of the Category 2 hurricane, North Carolina is assessing the situation.

“We are monitoring the storm,” Tar Heels spokesperson Steve Kirschner told The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday morning when asked if the school had any plans in regards to the upcoming game should the storm hit.

Miami athletic director Blake James told the Miami Herald he doesn’t expect any changes.

“We are in communication with North Carolina officials and will continue to monitor the storm,” James said Tuesday afternoon. “At this time, we do not believe there will be any changes to our plans.”

The National Hurricane Center forecasts Dorian to have moved north of the Carolinas by kickoff.

So far, no schools have announced any changes to the slate for the upcoming week. The Florida State Seminoles and Boise State Broncos were the only team affected by the hurricane in Week 1 as Florida State moved its opener against Boise State from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, and moved kickoff up from 7 p.m. to noon, in anticipation of the storm’s potential move up the East Coast.

Miami, which opened its season a week early and didn’t have to contend with Dorian, was last affected by a hurricane in 2017 when it canceled a scheduled trip to face the Arkansas State Red Wolves because of the threat of Hurricane Irma and concerns it rose about Miami traveling to Jonesboro.

The Hurricanes were able to cancel the game altogether because it was a non-conference clash. The meeting between Miami (1-0) and the Tar Heels, a pair of Coastal Division rivals, has to be played.

North Carolina (1-0) is coming off a come-from-behind, 24-20 win against the rival South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.

The Tar Heels announced Tuesday the game against the Hurricanes is sold out.

This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 12:58 PM.