Storms have been slow to fire off, but they are surely going to fire. The delay in the onset of activity has allowed heat to build and that will only add fuel to the storms. Any thunderstorm that develops will be capable of deadly cloud-to-ground lightning, torrential rainfall that could lead to flash flooding, and gusty winds that could even be locally damaging.
Radar at this hour shows storms beginning to fire. Just in the time I prepared this short update, I had to update the radar for this post. Storms are firing fast! These will only get more widespread as we go through the rest of the afternoon and evening. I highlighted the border of Cumberland County.
I should also note that “Fred” is now over the waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico. The system weakened after impacting Cuba and is now just an area of disorganized low pressure, but the system is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm again sometime today. Thankfully, the storm is going to track farther west and will spare much of the peninsula of Florida the worst of the wind and rain. The Panhandle, on the other hand, is looking to be heavily impacted by a landfalling Tropical Storm Fred.
Fred will then track toward our neck of the woods, bringing increased rain chances by Monday.
It’s a good thing the worst of Fred will miss the Florida peninsula, because Tropical Storm Grace is on the way. That system is gaining strength and currently forecast to impact southern Florida later this week.
