John McCarthy
HAVANA — Tropical Depression Four formed late Friday night off the south coast of Cuba.
It morphed into Tropical Storm Debby this afternoon as it moves through the very warm water of the eastern Gulf.
Tropical storm impacts are expected along the west coast of Florida where Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect.
Impacts in the low country are expected, but the specifics depend on the actual track.
The bottom line is that the western side of the storm is the weaker side of storm and therefore there would be less impacts.
The eastern side of the storm is the stronger side, which would mean more impacts such as wind and possibly storm surge as well as heavy rain.
At this point, models are showing that Debby will likely sit for several days, which means that heavy rain to be the biggest impact from early Monday through possibly Thursday or later. High rainfall totals would lead to flooding.
Timing and track will change, so stay tuned to the Virgin Islands Free Press’ weather team for the latest updates online.
The National Hurricane Center issued advisories on Tropical Storm Debby today.
