Debby will exit with more flooding, as we then refocus our attention back to the Atlantic

Headlines

  • Debby is moving inland across South Carolina, spreading heavy rain and flash flooding across the Carolinas.
  • Significant rain and flooding will continue in North Carolina and expand into Virginia today.
  • Debby lifts north and exits tomorrow and Saturday, spreading flooding risks into Pennsylvania, New York, and Quebec.
  • The next tropical wave to watch will arrive near the Caribbean islands early next week, and it will be worth watching closely.

Debby brings widespread flooding northward

Tropical Storm Debby has come back ashore today near Bulls Bay, SC, which is just north of Charleston. It continues to slowly migrate inland and will lose wind intensity through the day. One thing it won’t lose is moisture, and virtually all of east-central North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina is under a flood warning this morning. Just a huge spatial area of flash flood warnings.

Flash flood warnings in maroon cover a massive chunk of North Carolina, including Raleigh-Durham, the Triad, and Charlotte. Flood watches extend north up the Appalachians into Central and Northern New York. (Pivotal Weather)

That heavy rain will migrate northward today into Virginia, where a high risk of flooding (level 4/4) extends up through Roanoke, Blacksburg, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville.

A high risk (level 4/4) of flooding exists again today, this time from North Carolina into the Shenandoah Valley. (NOAA WPC)

Heavy rain will expand north into Pennsylvania and New York as we go into tonight and tomorrow, as well as into Quebec. Basically, we’re looking at 2 to 5 inches over a wide area, with isolated enhancement in the mountains of Virginia, where the flooding could be the worst. Everything should exit late tomorrow. Some additional heavy rain will be possible east of the this peak axis, but it will be a more manageable rain. Severe weather, including isolated tornadoes are possible too.

Peak totals will basically follow I-81 north into Upstate New York, with another maxima in the St. Lawrence Valley in Quebec, mainly east of Montreal. (NOAA WPC)

And we’ll say goodbye to Debby after this.

Next wave up is increasingly intriguing

As I noted yesterday, while modeling was mostly leaning toward the next wave not being a big deal, there was reason to watch it. It has indeed been added to the area of interest map today by the National Hurricane Center.

The next tropical wave to watch will arrive near the islands in 4 or 5 days and currently has about a 30 percent chance of development. (NOAA NHC)

They open the bidding at 30 percent, but I truthfully think we’ll see this increase some in the next day or two. This wave is going to have an interesting future. First off, development with this one will be slow. There is a lot of Saharan dust to contend with in the Atlantic, and there is no reason to think we see much of anything through the weekend. By the time we get to Monday, the wave should be approaching the Antilles. At this point, development may start to unfold slowly. But with high pressure basically in control from the Bahamas into Texas, this system will probably be cut off from “feeling” the tug of a trough in New England initially.

A slowly developing tropical system is likely to move into the islands and/or Caribbean early next week. (Tropical Tidbits)

From this point, it becomes a bit of a fight. If this system struggles a bit, it will stay suppressed, likely south of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. This means it may miss its ride out to sea from the deepening New England trough. However, if development starts moving along more aggressively, we will likely see this system gain latitude toward Puerto Rico and Hispaniola or to the north, making it more likely to ultimately be captured by the New England trough and sent north. Additionally, the specific location and strength of the trough and areas of high pressure will play a big role too. It’s far too early to say how this ballet will play out, but I have to admit, the model data today was a little more sluggish with the pull north, which starts creeping this system a little farther west than we’d care to see.

In terms of timing, impacts will arrive in the islands early to mid next week, and if they come west toward Cuba, the Bahamas, or Florida, it would be late next week. Any risk to the Gulf, if any, is unlikely before at least next weekend. We have a lot of time to watch.

Additional waves may try to get going off Africa around the 20th, but we’ll see.

6 thoughts on “Debby will exit with more flooding, as we then refocus our attention back to the Atlantic”

  1. The later these storms stay suppressed, the better!!!! Thank you gentlemen for ALWAYS explaining and keeping us up-to-date with the best information!!! Have a great rest of your day/week.

    Very Respectfully,
    Jon Stacy

  2. Question 1. Does the trend we’re seeing (identified by the words “was a little more sluggish with the pull north…”) need to reverse in order to keep the system out of the Gulf? Question 2. Will the near-solid wall of high pressure shown in the Monday map above begin to develop weaknesses in the days following Monday?

  3. Hi. Thank you for all the 24/7 hard work. One question: how long do you expect the high over us to stay put? Long enough?

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