SAN JUAN — A tropical wave located over the tropical Atlantic several hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is producing widespread disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
Any development of the wave should be slow to occur during the next couple of days while it moves westward across the central tropical Atlantic.
Afterwards, conditions are expected to become more conducive for development, and a tropical depression could form while it approaches the Lesser Antilles by early next week.
The system is then forecast to move generally west-northwestward and could approach the Greater Antilles by the middle part of next week.
* Formation chance through 48 hours…low…near 0 percent.
* Formation chance through 7 days…medium…50 percent.
Tropical Storm Debby update
Debby weakened to a post-tropical cyclone this morning but it is still threatening to whip up flooding rains, damaging winds and tornadoes as it quickly moves north through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The storm had winds of 30 mph with stronger gusts early Friday and was expected to pick up speed as it moves north after hovering over the Carolinas for days, creating dangerous flood conditions in some areas.
More than 17 million people were under tornado watches Friday morning extending across parts of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, the Storm Prediction Center said.
At least seven people have died in the Southeast since Debby crashed into Florida as a Category 1 storm on Monday. Its torrential downpours and heavy winds have shredded homes, flooded neighborhoods and trapped people in cars, homes and boats – and sweltering heat across the region this weekend could make recovery efforts more difficult.
Here’s the latest:
• Tornado watch spreads from North Carolina to Maryland: The Storm Prediction Center has issued a tornado watch until 7 a.m. today stretching across eastern North Carolina, central and eastern Virginia, eastern West Virginia and Maryland. The area includes the cities of Raleigh, Richmond, Baltimore and Washington, DC.
• Flash flood emergency in South Carolina: The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency early today for parts of South Carolina’s Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties, noting that high water rescues and “widespread dangerous flash flooding is ongoing” in the city of Moncks Corner. The emergency was set to be in effect until 5:30 a.m. ET. While the bulk of the rainfall associated with Debby had moved to Virginia, a final band of heavy rainfall north of Charleston was trained over the same areas, overwhelming soils and waterways. The band could also bring flooding on its path into North Carolina early today.
• Death toll ticks upward: A 78-year-old woman was found dead Thursday after a tree fell on her trailer in Rockingham, North Carolina, which was under a tornado watch earlier that day, a county sheriff said. Earlier Thursday, a man was found dead in North Carolina’s Wilson County after his home collapsed during a tornado spawned by Debby, a county official said. At least five other storm-related deaths have been reported: Four people in Florida and one in Georgia.
• More than 35 million people under flood alerts: Though rainfall totals will be lower Friday compared to earlier this week – when Debby dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of the Southeast – the Northeast has a significant threat of flooding, especially in high-terrain areas. More than 35 million people are under some level of flood alert, stretching over 800 miles from South Carolina up to northern New York and Vermont.
• Where Debby is headed: The heaviest rainfall on Friday will spread from central Pennsylvania through central New York and into Vermont. Between 2 to 4 inches of rainfall are expected in the area, with some isolated higher amounts possible. Peak rainfall isn’t expected to hit New York City until after the evening commute hours. And by tomorrow morning, the rainfall associated with Debby will quickly be exiting northern New England.
• Southeast sweats under triple-digit heat: Hazardous heat has been baking the Southeast in Debby’s wake and is expected to continue throughout the weekend, creating potentially miserable conditions for recovery efforts across the region. While high temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s are expected, the heat indices – how the body feels under combined heat and humidity – could exceed 110 degrees. The heat index today could hit 112 degrees in Valdosta, Georgia, and 110 degrees in Jacksonville, Florida.