Tropical Storm Debby Update with Taylor Graham (8/4/2024)

e good evening south Mississippi meteorologist Taylor Grim here with the very latest on what's going on in the tropics all eyes are on what is still considered tropical storm Debbie this evening but I would say here shortly it will be upgraded to a hurricane and we'll dive into why I think that the hurricane Hunters are currently flying through the system and they are gathering more data on it now thankfully Debbie is not much of our concern here in south Mississippi although it is moving through the Gulf of Mexico so let's go ahead and dive into what we're looking at this evening uh with still what is considered tropical storm Debbie as of this time as of the 7:00 update it is a strong tropical storm with Winds of 70 mph now at 7 o00 National Hurricane Center reported it was moving to the north at about 12 miles hour based on what I'm looking at though it may have been taking a bit more of a Northeast jog it is starting to get a little bit closer there uh to the Big Bend area of Florida and as far as I can tell on radar it's starting to see a little bit of what resembles an eye we may get that inner core to strengthen a little bit more over the next uh 6 to 12 hours before making landfall and it does look like Debbie will continue to strengthen as it gets closer uh to the Big Bend area of Florida here we go hurricane Hunters currently flying through it these are the hurricane hunters from buuy and flight level winds they found at about 74 mil hour wouldn't be surprised at all with the next update they go ahead and upgrade Debbie to a category 1 hurricane also noticing that the pressure is dropping to about 986 mbars that's lower than 992 which was reported at 7:00 so a drop imp pressure indicates that the system is strengthening and because it has some very warm water to work with we can continue uh to expect Debbie to strengthen over the next 6 to 12 hours tropical storm watches and warnings extend all the way up into Georgia and the Carolinas mainly South Carolina at this time we still have that hurricane warning in effect for a good portion of the Florida Big Bend area and also it looks like some of those hurricane warnings now have extended into parts of Georgia uh the extreme southern part of Georgia as well so those areas really going to be keeping a close up ey on Debbie as we head into the rest of tonight and chances are Debbie is going to be making landfall by very early Monday morning it may even be moving in overnight tonight like I said it has some very warm water to work with we are seeing sea surface temperatures in the northern Gulf of Mexico in the mid to Upper 80s no shortage of energy in the water uh for this system to feed off of and as of right now the National Hurricane Center does have Debbie strengthening into a category 1 hurricane before making landfall again either overnight tonight or very early tomorrow morning it may maintain its hurricane strength as it moves Over Georgia which is why some of those hurricane warnings have been extended farther Inland and then as it moves up into Georgia and maybe skirts by the coast of the Carolinas it really slows down now if it is able to move back over the open water in the Atlantic it may strengthen a little bit more that's why winds are forecast to be a bit higher by Thursday say but there's a lot of uncertainty with that forecast one thing that is looking more and more uncertain though is that with Debbie stalling or coming to a slow crawl throughout Georgia into South Carolina and even into North Carolina this could pose as a significant flooding threat to parts of the southeast and the east coast in fact some spots in South Carolina maybe picking up upwards of 20 Ines of rainfall over the next 3 to 5 days maybe even locally higher amounts and of course that amount of rain could cause some extreme flooding so even if Debbie becomes a weak tropical storm or even a tropical depression at this point uh rainfall is going to be a huge issue for parts of Georgia and the Carolinas and of course parts of Florida as well but at least with Florida Debbie is moving at a a bit more of a steady Pace again it will be coming to a crawl by Georgia and the Carolinas and that's because these upper level winds helping to steer Debbie are going to be much weaker so it's going to just kind of sit around a little a little bit now notice there in south Mississippi not much rain in the forecast over the next 3 to five days I know some of us today were able to pick up a few inches of rainfall in a short amount of time there are plenty of us in south Mississippi that didn't get any rain at all it was just a look of the draw that some of us got some heavy downpours but the overall trend for us is showing uh much drier conditions and that's because we have some drier air moving in on the back side side of what will likely be hurricane Debbie uh by early Monday morning and that drier Air at least means the humidity is going to be a little bit lower but the heat is going to be pretty intense over the next few days we'll take the good with the bad I guess and at least we're not going to have to deal with Debbie here in south Mississippi again those impacts definitely staying far enough to our East that it's not too much of our concern but notice here with that yellow color that indicates some drier air in the atmosphere that is going to be moving in on the back side of Debbie with that Northeast wind so the humidity will be a little bit lower for us but it is going to be blazing hot we've got that Big Ridge of high pressure to our West that's going to be building in a little bit more over us Monday Tuesday and into Wednesday so our forecast high temperatures are actual air temperatures this week in south Mississippi likely going to be getting into the triple digits uh that's roughly about 10° above average even for us here now at least the lower humidity helps us a little bit but anytime we have heat like that so very important to uh stay hydrated and listen to your body if you have to spend much time outside zooming in a little bit closer here into Debbie this is our in-house forecast model futurecast does show Debbie probably making landfall by early Monday morning along the Big Bend area of Florida and then notice here that as skirts up the East Coast it's really going to slow down lots of heavy rainfall associated with that Savannah Charleston probably going to be getting dumped with tons of rain over the next 24 to 48 hours and Debbie is expected to slowly skirt up into uh North Carolina It Seems like by Wednesday Thursday and even into Friday as it weakens into a tropical depression it's still going to be causing us some significant flooding it looks like up the East Coast see here I'm having a little issue here getting my Graphics going there we go because I also wanted to talk about what else is going on in the tropics we don't have any immediate threats to south Mississippi at this time but we do have another tropical wave that's just to the east of the Lesser an tiles there is a chance it may be moving into the southern Gulf of Mexico roughly about a week out from now so plenty of time to watch the system but it hasn't even developed yet there are a lot of unknowns at this time but this is a good reminder that we are far from over or done with hurricane season and in fact we're entering the peak of hurricane season by the end of August and into early September so the tropics definitely ramping up again just emphasizing a lot of time to watch this particular system it hasn't developed yet so models all over the place at this time but we will be watching this tropical wave once it moves into the Caribbean and possibly into the Gulf of Mexico there's still a lot of unknowns with that again like I said uh we typically see a lot more activity throughout the month of August and September so chances are this is just the beginning fingers crossed we don't have to deal with any tropical systems but uh Debbie is a good example just to be on guard you know that's not too far away from us in the Gulf of Mexico and we do have a ways to go uh before the end of hurricane season but at least for the time being here it's just flat out hot I mean we're looking at highs close to 100 tomorrow Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday will be some of the hotter days of the week uh if the humidity is a little a little bit lower it may not feel as miserable outside but let's be honest highs in the upper 90s to low 100s nothing to sneeze at that's for sure and we're really not going to be cooling down too much at night some Inland areas will be able to drop into the low to mid 70s uh early in the morning but on the coast it is going to be a little bit warmer and notice there rain chances only at about 20% now I know some of us today were able to get some heavy downpours it's the luck of the draw but with that drier air moving in on the back side of Debbie over the next four to five days we're really just not expecting much in the way of rain so a lot of sunshine in the forecast if you're going to be spending much time out in the sun make sure you uh again stay hydrated have plenty of sunscreen on hand because it is going to be blazing hot and it will feel like every bit of August around here in south Mississippi so coming up at 10:00 on the news at WLX we will have the latest update on tropical storm Debbie at that time it likely will be hurricane Debbie we'll get in the latest update from the National Hurricane Center at 10:00 and not only will we have the latest stats as far as its wind and where uh its direction that it's moving in but we will also have the latest forecast track again really looks like Debbie is going to be much more of an impact obviously for the Big Bend area of Florida it is not a threat to South Miss Mississippi thank goodness but we are far from over from the end of hurricane season so of course we need to uh be on guard but for the time being you can plan on a lot of heat this upcoming week with highs uh close to 100 and not a lot of rain so if you were able to get some rain today and maybe you needed that that's good for you because it just doesn't look like we have much ahead in the forecast so with that being said I going to go ahead and prepare for our 10:00 news hopefully you will join us for that we'll have the latest on the weather and also the latest on what's going on elsewhere along the coast