AccuWeather forecasters are expecting a tropical rainstorm to cause flash flooding problems in Florida before crossing into the Gulf and strengthening into a depression near Louisiana.
00:00We have gone with the tropical rainstorm just in the last couple of hours, and we can see when we show the water vapor loop there on your screen, not mine, kind of what's happening right now.
00:11Yeah, we've got plenty of spinning motion in the atmosphere associated with this tropical rainstorm.
00:17AccuWeather is the first known source to designate this as a tropical rainstorm and certainly track it, issue a track forecast.
00:27This is mainly going to be a concern for localized flooding concerns here over the next several days.
00:33That's why we're highlighting it.
00:35We want people to be aware of that first across Florida, where there's already localized heavy rain occurring associated broadly with the tropical rainstorm.
00:42That's going to make its way into the Gulf of America, and as it does so, generally heading in the direction of Louisiana by later this week, and that will carry its flash flooding threat along with it.
00:52Yeah, we're going to see impacts to Florida first, then along kind of the Gulf Coast states and especially Louisiana, like you mentioned.
00:59We're seeing how it kind of plays out on future radar here.
01:02Yeah, notice one of the things about this is that the thunderstorm activity is really going to flare up during the days and into the evening hours, and it may tend to wane a bit in some spots overnight,
01:13and then re-flare up again across parts of Florida here as we head through the day on Tuesday, and any of this rain that occurs in Florida can result in flash flooding.
01:24We want to put people on alert that rain rates of two or three inches per hour can occur in some spots, and that can result in dangerous flash flooding at times before the storm then makes its way out into the Gulf of America.
01:38And we're watching for this to become a tropical depression by the time it makes landfall there in Louisiana.
01:45This is kind of how we think things are going to play out.
01:47Right, notice the slow motion here across the Florida Peninsula and then out into the Gulf of America here during the day on Wednesday,
01:54and that it nears the Louisiana coast here as we head toward first thing on Thursday morning,
02:01and that's when that rain is going to continue to spread off to the north and to the west.
02:05And again, the rain is going to be the main factor with this. If it spends a little bit more time over the Gulf,
02:10then we're concerned that this could even intensify a bit more into a tropical storm,
02:15but we think that the rain risk is going to be how this storm is remembered.
02:20Yeah, the next name on the list is Dexter. So if we do see this become a tropical storm, it will be tropical storm Dexter.
02:26But regardless of kind of what stage it reaches, like you're saying, the rain is what we are watching.
02:30Exactly. And look at this. Look at the large area from parts of Florida, where there can be amounts of four to eight inches associated with the storm,
02:38all the way up toward Louisiana, also Mississippi, far east Texas, where there can be a couple to several inches of rainfall occurring in those areas.
02:48So a large area of four to eight inches of rain with an AccuWeather local storm max of 16, which is the maximum possible value in terms of the rainfall that could occur in any area.
03:01That is enough to result in some significant flooding concerns, especially if the storm is able to become better organized.
03:10Yeah. And it's not just the rain that we're talking about here. We're talking about wind. We're talking about possible isolated tornadoes even.
03:16Correct. There could be some areas near Louisiana coast with 40 to 60 mile per hour wind gusts.
03:21But the main story at this point, again, looks like it's that heavy rain and the flooding rain, heavy rain risk and associated flooding.
03:28And as we take a look at the AccuWeather real impact scale for hurricanes assessment with this storm, this is a one on the AccuWeather real impact scale for hurricanes.
03:38So that's and it's a one because of that flooding rain risk.
03:41So again, that's the exclusive AccuWeather six point scale that goes from less than one up to five.
03:48So a one designation on this storm has been done so purposely because of the risk for flooding rain.
03:55And there's two aspects that we want to highlight.
03:57One is that there are some indications that the storm may slow down as it crosses the New Orleans area and into Louisiana later this week.
04:07And should that occur, the risk for flooding would be enhanced in those areas.
04:11The other point to mention with the storm, as I mentioned, is that if it does not organize as much, the flooding risk can be much more localized.
04:19So especially that's the case over Florida.
04:22And we'll be watching that here through the week.
04:24So a big rainmaker on the way.
04:25And we want people to be checking back frequently here with AccuWeather on that flooding risk.
04:30And John, at this point with Chantal, we were at an AccuWeather real impact scale number less than one.
04:35So it just kind of goes to show we get caught up in tropical depression.
04:38Is it a tropical storm?
04:39But it's those impacts that we're really trying to be focused on.
04:43That's correct.
04:43And regardless of the specific designation with this storm, we expect this is going to be a big rainmaker.
