VALDOSTA —
Meteorologists around the country await Debby’s next move as the tropical storm holds its position over the northern corner of the Gulf of Mexico and gathers strength from the area’s warm waters.
It’s Debby’s location that has regional forecasters worried.
“The storm’s convections have been firing up and we see heavy bands of rain over central Fla.,” according to forecaster Don Van Dyke of the National Weather Service’s Tallahassee office.
“The wind intensity has decreased. However, Debby is still sitting over some relatively warm water, which could strengthen the storm or an offshoot.”
If Debby picks up strength over the open waters of the Gulf, forecasters say the storm could rise high enough into the atmosphere to be steered by fast-moving winds of a northeastern trough.
The southward winds, characteristic of northerly troughs, would keep the revitalized storm from moving too far to the north, according to forecasters. The northerly trough could slow the storm and keep the brunt of Debbie’s downpour
focused on South Georgia and the north Florida area, according to Tropical Weather Expert Dan Kottlowski.
Debby has resistance from the west as well. A high pressure system over the Southwestern and Plains states has all but barred the storm from moving towards the arid west and northwest regions.
Van Dyke told the Times that it wouldn’t be until the weekend that forecasters would be able to make a call on whether or not the Debby will make it out into the Atlantic.
Van Dyke said Valdosta should expect about five inches of rainfall between Monday evening and Wednesday night.
“Going to be wet for the next several days,” said Van Dyke. “The heaviest rain will remain over a portion of north Florida.”
He said Debby is moving at about 5 miles per hour and has a northeasterly trajectory that would send the bulk of the storm across north central Florida.
There may be some good that comes out of Debby, though. The region’s drought outlook has already begun to turn around and could continue to improve in areas where the saturation doesn’t result in flooding, according to forecasters.
Currently, the region is still classified by the US Drought Monitor as suffering moderate to severe drought conditions.
“Unfortunately, rain is not reaching all of the hard-hit drought areas and is bringing way too much rain all at once for drainage systems to handle in some areas,” said Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather.com.
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