Francine pounds Louisiana, monitoring several other areas of disturbed weather

All right. Good afternoon to you on Fox 26, meteorologist Misha Shade, it is that time of the afternoon, time to track the tropics and of course, the tropics have been extremely busy over the last 24 hours with the landfall of a pretty ferocious, dangerous hurricane. Francine across the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Let's talk about what we've been through so far for this hurricane season. We are now up to six named storms when we include Francine. Of course, we started the season off with Alberto. We went to Beryl, then Chris, Debby, Ernesto, and of course yesterday Francine made landfall as a category two 100 mile per hour hurricane about 30 miles to the south southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana. So the Louisiana Gulf Coast yesterday had to deal with ferocious winds. In fact, New Orleans dealt with wind gusts close to 80mph at one point. And of course, a ton of rain. Lots of flash flood emergencies. But now Francine has weakened. So we're looking at the next names on the list. In the next two would be Gordon and then Helene, and we've got several others. After that that we could potentially have to use, depending on how active things get for the remainder of the hurricane season. Let's look at Francine on radar, and it has become a post-tropical cyclone. Now that means it's lost its tropical characteristics. It's kind of been over land for too long and it's starting to wind down. However, it is still a big time rain producer and there is still the possibility of a few of these thunderstorms spinning up a brief tornado so you can see this huge flood watch that includes a big chunk of Mississippi, Alabama, even down into parts of South western Georgia, and even parts of the Florida Panhandle. We also had a tornado watch down around parts of the Florida Panhandle, but that has come to an end. So even though Francine is weaker, we've got widespread rain impacting a big portion of the southeast U.S, including Montgomery, Birmingham, up to Nashville, and definitely right around Memphis. That center of circulation of Francine or whatever is left of it. Definitely crossing right over the Memphis area, and it's going to kind of slow down over the next day or so and basically just kind of fall apart and dump a lot of rain. Right around Memphis, Tennessee. As far as southeast Texas is concerned, things are looking a little brighter out there. We still have some thicker clouds here and there, but overall, those clouds are starting to break up. More sunshine coming out. And here's some good news. We've gotten rid of that coastal flood advisory that we had down around our coastal communities, including Lake Jackson, Galveston League city that has come to an end. However, we do still have a coastal flood advisory for parts of Calhoun County that would include Port Lavaca, but for The Woodlands, Houston League, City radar is quiet and it is still a little on the breezy side out there. But overall, we're not expecting any crazy weather as far as impacts from what's left of Francine here is that coastal flood advisory, though that does still continue through 7:00 for Calhoun County. Like I said, that includes Port Lavaca. We're talking about minor coastal flooding, a possibility for a few more hours, and then things should start to improve and we should get rid of all of those advisories that were associated with Francine. All right. Let's get the latest on Francine. As I told you, as of the 4 p.m. advisory, it is no longer considered a tropical system. Of course, it was a hurricane then downgraded to a tropical storm, then a tropical depression. Now it is post tropical, and it is sitting north of Jackson, Mississippi and south of Memphis, Tennessee. Those winds in the system are now down to 25mph, and it is moving north at nine miles per hour, and it's about 90 miles to the south of Memphis, Tennessee. You can see it where we have that ill on the map there. The majority of the rain really to the north and east of that center of what is left of Francine. Let me show you the track for Francine as it continues to kind of wind down and weaken, it should continue to basically track off to the north or north northwest over the next day, or so. Wind speeds will likely come down to around 15mph as we go into Friday afternoon. It's still going to dump some heavy rain. They're still going to be a pretty big flood threat for parts of the southeast Tennessee Valley. And there will also be the potential for a few severe storms that could produce a brief tornado. But overall, Francine on her way out, it is weakening quickly, but it will still have a flood threat for some portions of the southeastern U.S. and as I said, the Tennessee Valley. So there you can see around Friday early a m, 25 mile per hour winds. Friday afternoon, 15 mile per hour winds. And then after that, it should be completely gone or completely dissipated. We won't have to worry about it for too much longer, but the damage is already done. We had reports of wind gusts briefly over 100mph for parts of the Louisiana Gulf Coast, so that was certainly a major issue. But things hopefully will continue to improve for the Louisiana Gulf Coast as Francine weakens and moves away. Like I said though, there's still one pretty big risk from Francine, and that is the risk for heavy rain that could lead to street flooding and flash flooding. Notice the highest risk for that flooding and that numerous three out of four category. And that's going to be in between Huntsville, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama. That's the area in red. But even over towards Memphis, there is a two out of four medium risk for some of those streets to become flooded. So we will continue with that potential for more heavy rain from Francine. And we are going to have that risk. As I mentioned, for several inches of rain, maybe 4 to 8in of rain before it's over with from what's left of Francine as we go into Friday, that risk for the flash flooding will be over some of the same areas in between Huntsville and Montgomery, up into parts of Tennessee and central and southern portions of Georgia. In that elevated street, flooding risk even into Saturday, as Francine is really kind of falling apart, they're still going to be a lot of tropical moisture left across parts of the southeastern U.S. middle portion of the Tennessee area. So the flash flood threat, unfortunately, will continue. So we'll have to monitor that closely. But like I said, things for the Houston area definitely improving, becoming brighter and drier and warmer. But there will still be a flood threat for parts of the southeast. Do we have any other systems that we're monitoring out there? Well, this area shaded in yellow, there's nothing here just yet, but we are thinking that there could potentially be a disturbance or an area of low pressure develop right off of the southeastern U.S. coast over the next couple of days. There is about a 30% chance of that happening over the next week, not really expecting it to blow up over the next few days, but there's a low chance that we could get a little something forming off of the southeast U.S. coast that we will have to monitor to see if it could turn into maybe a potential tropical depression or tropical storm. But at this point, like I said, that chance is on the low side heading down to the Caribbean. We've got another potential system here. This is a tropical wave getting close to the Leeward Islands. Once again, the area is shaded in yellow. It's headed towards those Leeward Islands and it's likely going to get close to parts of Puerto Rico over the coming days. But there's a 30% shot that this could be our next tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane. So it's a low chance right now, but it could brush some of those Caribbean islands. So it is certainly something that we will want to monitor closely. But at this point, it does not appear that we have anything heading our way as far as Southeast Texas is concerned. It looks like we will be enjoying some really nice weather conditions for the next several days. Some sunshine, some warmer temps, nothing from the tropics expected to head our way. However, I do want to take you farther out into the Atlantic and we do have another system that has developed and it continues to basically pose the risk to become our next tropical storm. We are looking at tropical Depression number seven, and it is out basically in the central Atlantic. There's also another tropical wave behind that one. So definitely several things to monitor over the coming days in the tropics. Here's the track for Tropical Depression number seven. It is expected to turn into Tropical Storm Gordon likely by tonight into early Friday. And it's likely going to maintain that tropical storm status for the next several days. But notice where it is. It's out over open water. It's not bothering anyone, and let's hope it stays there. So we have several days to watch this one, but this will likely become Tropical Storm Gordon over the next 12 to 24 hours. So certainly we are keeping a close eye on that one. In fact, our exclusive Fox model futurecast showing that this system will likely tighten up and get wound up, get a little bit stronger and continue that west northwest track. Getting closer to the Caribbean islands likely early next week, but likely staying just to the north of some of those islands. But of course, it will be something that we are going to be monitoring closely. So bottom line, there are several systems we're monitoring. It doesn't appear that any of them are heading towards the Houston or Southeast Texas area. At least through early next week. We are still, though, right around the peak of hurricane season. The peak was right at September 10th, so we are still very close to that. So if we're going to get anything else, this would probably be the time that we would likely have the highest shot between now and maybe the next week or two. So we're going to be watching the tropics closely, of course, as we get towards the end of September into October, hopefully things will start to wind down, but of course it's something we will monitor closely. Of course, hurricane season runs through the end of November, so make sure to stay alert because of course these systems can pop up and impact us at any time. But right now at least, Francine is no longer a tropical system. We do have Tropical Depression number seven, but it is way out in the Atlantic with several days for us to monitor it and see exactly where it will track. That will do it for your