Debby Does Deluge! Virginia to New England, severe storms & tornadoes New Jersey, Southeast New York

Photo byTropical Tidbits

Tropical Storm Debby is now inland in South Carolina and heading northward. It is moving northwestward and over the course of today and Friday, Debby will start to move faster to the north and then turn to the northeast late Friday. The track of Debby will see the center become post tropical and then track up the Appalachians, through Central Virginia and Central Pennsylvania and then turn northeast tracking through Northern New England Friday night.

Photo byweather prediction center

Bearing that track in mind, the heaviest rains will fall inland from Central and Western Virginia to Central and Eastern Pennsylvania and then across Central and Northeastern NY, Vermont and New Hampshire. Generally it will be a 4 to 6 inch area of rain. There could be some locally higher amounts in some places and this area is under flash flood watches.

Photo bystorm prediction center

For areas to the east from Eastern Virginia to Southern and Southeastern New England, including New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, Connecticut, and Long Island, as well as the metro areas of Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City we are talking about 1 to 2 inches of rain in general. Some places will get a little less, some a little more. The bigger risk on the east side of the storm track will be severe weather and elevated tornado risk.

The Storm Prediction Center is indicating that this risk is elevated for Friday. We are beginning to see the rain building on the radars in Northern North Carolina into Virginia. Ahead of this rain today across Eastern Pennsylvania to Southern New England we will see will see cloudy skies with an east wind. Light rain or drizzle is possible along with the occasional shower or downpour. It is a bit of a gloom and doom type of day. Most highs will reach the 70s.

Photo byNational Weather Service

Gradually we will see winds turn more southeast tonight and Friday. Look for showery rains to increase late tonight and during the day Friday. I don't think it rains every waking minute. High temperatures will will be in the upper 70s to lower 80s. We will be watching for some heavier showers and thunderstorms to develop. Again there is the risk for isolated severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Winds will be gusty from the south along the coast but they should not get too out of hand.

Photo byNational Weather Service

The low will move along rather quickly so we should see showers and thunderstorms come to end Friday night from west to east and weather conditions should improve rather quickly. Saturday look for decreasing clouds and increasing amounts of sunshine. This system will be bringing down a large dry air mass to the entire Eastern US and that means sunshine and low humidity for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday highs will reach into the 80s. Next week we will see dry air hanging on for much of the week. In fact we could see a re-enforcing area of dry air for the second half of the week. This may be separated by a cold front and the chance for some showers late Tuesday. Other than that, next week looks to be nice much of the time with reasonable temperatures and humidity.