Good Saturday Morning. Tropical Storm Claudette was designated at 0500 hrs this morning and is coming ashore just southwest of New Orleans. This disorganized Tropical Storm holds most of it’s heavy rainfall on the east side of the parent low pressure circulation. Locally, the area is under mostly clear skies. A thin layer of broken cirrus has already pushed in.
Clouds will increase through the day today as Claudette pushes Northeast through Mississippi and Alabama. A few showers or maybe a thunderstorm could develop this afternoon and evening ahead of the system. Due to cloud cover I am not sure how much instability will be present to launch these thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Therefore just keeping will only increase rain chances to 20% for the evening hours. Monitor our free weather app’s ( Apple and Andorid ) 24 hour forecast for updates through the day on this. You can also track tropical systems directly from the app. This afternoon, evening, and tonight will be breezy. This is more in response to gradient winds between high pressure to the north and Claudette approaching from the south.
Overnight Claudette should move into Georgia tracking right along I-85. High pressure may hinder how far north this system makes it while inland. The official National Hurricane Center Track takes the system just south of Atlanta and northeast to Columbia by 2am Monday. As the system becomes post-tropical Sunday a heavy band of precipitation will likely develop on the northwest side of the system. There is going to be a sharp gradient of rainfall totals from south to north. Our Southern SC boarder counties could see a very quick 1.5 to 2.5 inch rainfall total, while areas to the north and west receive a half inch or less. If the heavy band of rainfall is able to move further North Sunday Night into Monday then areas along I-40 may bet 1 to 1.5 inches. Needless to say we are not forecasting any flash flood situation across our area at this time.
Claudette should move out of the area early Monday leaving us with rapidly clearing skies. A cold front will approach the area Monday Afternoon which will reinforce the trough across the east coast. Expect numerous showers and storms with it Monday Night and then again Tuesday. Behind that rain chances come down, however this will become a prime set up for MCS’ (Mesoscale Convective System) to develop and move southeast into the area from the Ohio Valley. We will continue to monitor that.
Summary:
What: Tropical Storm Claudette Developed and will impact the area to some degree
When: Sunday through Sunday Night
Rainfall: 1.5 to 2.5 inches along SC Boarder Counties. Less than 1 inch in the counties along I-40. Less than .75 inch North of I-40
Hazards: Heavy rainfall that may briefly become torrential along the NC/SC Boarder. This could cause heavy ponding of water on roads. Flash flooding is NOT expected at this time.
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