Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog

Debby lingers in the Gulf, bringing heavy rain, flooding to Florida
Posted by: Angela Fritz, 21:26 GMT le 25 juin 2012 +37
Debby remains a raggedy-looking tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The hurricane hunter mission that ended around 1pm ET found a minimum central pressure of 995 mb and much weaker winds that it had found on previous missions. Despite Debby's less-than-organized appearance, the storm is still managing to dump buckets on Florida, and in particular today, the panhandle. A burst of thunderstorm activity has exploded on the northern side of Debby, and Tallahassee, Florida and it's southern neighbors are getting the worst of the storm's rain this afternoon as it rotates in place. Weather stations near Tallahassee have recorded anywhere from 2 to 9 inches of rain so far today. The strongest wind speeds reported from buoys are around 30 mph this afternoon. The storm's moisture is still confined to the north and east of the center, as a region of dry air continues to wrap in from the south and west. Visible satellite imagery illustrates just how dry Debby is on the southwest, as well as the strong thunderstorm activity that is expected to continue over Florida for the next couple of days. Debby has begun to create a bit of storm surge in the Apalachee Bay area, with reports from St. Marks, Florida that the storm surge has reached the town, though high tide is not for another 2 hours.


Figure 1. Monday afternoon visible satellite imagery of Tropical Storm Debby.


Figure 2. 5-day forecast rainfall from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. Rainfall in excess of 15 inches is expected in northern Florida as Debby makes its slow way across the state and into the Atlantic.

Forecast for Debby
Debby continues to drift to the northeast this afternoon, a track that will continue, slowly, over the next couple of days, before it finally crosses Florida, which will likely happen Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The National Hurricane Center's 5pm forecast track is similar to the tracks from earlier today, though the timing has sped up a bit, with landfall occurring Wednesday afternoon. All of the models now agree that Debby will continue moving northeast and gradually turn to the east as it crosses over Florida into the Atlantic. In terms of intensity, the Hurricane Center is predicting that the storm will remain a storm through Wednesday, after which it will likely diminish to tropical depression status. Given the current state of the storm and the dry air that continues to wrap in, it's possible this could happen earlier than Wednesday. Interestingly, the GFDL is suggesting Debby could gain some strength as it crosses Florida, and the ECMWF's earlier run actually thinks Debby will rapidly intensify when it reaches the yet untapped warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and tracks northeast. It's worth nothing that the ECMWF is the only model suggesting this intensity outcome, though all the models have a similar track. In any case, Debby will remain a rainmaker for the rest of the week, and some storm surge is possible, especially in the Big Bend. The SLOSH model, which predicts storm surge heights, suggests this area could see up to a 6 foot storm surge. The coastal flooding will be the worst in the Apalachee Bay region, where high tide occurs from around 7am to 9am EDT.

Angela
One of Debbie's tornados (whgator3)
Tornado crossing Lk. Winterset in Winter Haven, Fl 6/24 8pm
One of Debbie's tornados
Flooding On Anna Maria (amapp)
This is my sister before the flooding got bad. She's sitting on top of a fire hydrant that's rapidly being swallowed up by the water!
Flooding On Anna Maria
TS Debby Flooding (Rick727)
A series of pictures of flooding in Pasco County Florida from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Debby. Exact locations in the EXIF
TS Debby Flooding
TS Debby Flooding (Rick727)
A series of pictures of flooding in Pasco County Florida from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Debby. Exact locations in the EXIF
TS Debby Flooding
Categories: Hurricane
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1351. weathermanwannabe 11:37 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Quoting trunkmonkey:
I moved a friend to Naples on Saturday, I will be heading back north on Thursday afternoon, as a EM guy I look out of the box with weather issues.
With that said I'm concerned with the Swannee river flooding
Causing the closure of I-75, my question is with the flooding could this issue be a reality and add to the problems associated with Debbie?
Historically has I-75 closed in the past due to flooding?
Just my thoughts!


The Suwannee River runs through North Florida but does not cross under I-75 so you should be good to go; it runs from Georgia across the Big Bend before it empties into the Gulf..... I am not sure that is was the Suwannee that cause a closure on I-75.
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1352. theshepherd 11:38 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
1333. LargoFl


As someone who lives in N Fla, I would suggest you can throw that one away.

Look at the radar.

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1353. ncstorm 11:39 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Good Morning..
The images coming from Florida are just mind blowing..

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1354. weathermanwannabe 11:41 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
My apologies to Trunkmonkey; I just took a look at a map and I think the Suwannee does cross under I-75 but I am not sure of where that is.....It must be very pretty close to the FL-GA border.
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1355. SFLWeatherman 11:42 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
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1356. FLWeatherFreak91 11:45 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Quoting wckdtribal:
good morning from Trinity ... I wonder where the rain chance is coming from, given the latest water vapor imagery...
Good morning from Odessa!

You have to remember that water vapor imagery illustrates the moisture content of the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere only. The air aloft is very dry, but as we can easily feel on the ground, it is quite moist in the lower level of the atmosphere.

Throughout the day today as the column warms, the moisture at the surface will rise and moisten up the mid and upper levels enough to produce some heavy rain and thunderstorms opposed to low topped showers which we've been experiencing overnight.

Hope that helped :)
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1357. islander101010 11:45 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Quoting weathermanwannabe:
My apologies to Trunkmonkey; I just took a look at a map and I think the Suwannee does cross under I-75 but I am not sure of where that is.....It must be very pretty close to the FL-GA border.
close.to.s.r.music.park
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1358. waterskiman 11:45 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Either I need glasses or a shot or rum, but on radar it looks like a jog or drift to the SE, say it isn't so.
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1359. FLWeatherFreak91 11:47 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Quoting centrfla:
does anyone know what the winds will be across central florida today? I work outside.
Similar to yesterday, maybe stronger in the more organized bands since debby is moving very slowly closer to us.
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1360. Autistic2 11:48 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
I don't know how much gain we got last night here. My rain guage stops a SIX inches. I emptied it at 9 pm last night.
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1361. theshepherd 11:50 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
Quoting weathermanwannabe:
My apologies to Trunkmonkey; I just took a look at a map and I think the Suwannee does cross under I-75 but I am not sure of where that is.....It must be very pretty close to the FL-GA border.


The rivers are not in flood. The Suwanee floods from waters north of here and then backs up the Santa Fe and Itchtuknee . It's just the low lying areas that are getting more water than they can drain.
Ground water is full. It's gonna sit there for a bit.

Areas of I-75 and I-10 have and will continue to close until this witch moves outta here.

http://www.srwmd.state.fl.us/realtimeriverlevels/ realtimeriverlevels.aspx
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1362. wunderkidcayman 11:51 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
TS Debby is moving or looks to be moving SE but I will wait a few hours and find out
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1363. WunderAlertBot (Admin) 11:52 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
JeffMasters has created a new entry.
1364. wunderkidcayman 11:54 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
5am advisory
29.0N 84.5W
7am advisory
28.9N 84.5W

what does that tell you
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1365. Flyingcactus 12:03 GMT le 26 juin 2012    
The Santa Fe that crosses under I-75 in central FL, north of High Springs, NW of Gainesville. The Suwannee River crosses under north of Lake City, west of White Springs.
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About JeffMasters
Jeff co-founded the Weather Underground in 1995 while working on his Ph.D. He flew with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 1986-1990.

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