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A ‘Homebrew’ Tropical Threat Is Heading For The East Coast

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Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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AccuWeather said Tuesday that a “homebrew” tropical threat could emerge close to the east coast, presenting severe threats to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas in late September.

The post shared by AccuWeather included graphics revealing a medium-to-high threat of flooding, rough surf, strong rip currents and storms in an area stretching from Jacksonville to as far north as Washington, D.C., and New York between Sept. 22 and 23. The system could go as far inland as Buffalo and Pittsburgh through the weekend and hit Boston and Portland, Maine, by Sunday.

“Stalled fronts along the southeastern coast of the United States are one way a ‘homebrew’ tropical system can form,” AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. Water temperatures within the lower Gulf Stream are well into the 80s, far above the minimum threshold for a tropical development.

The National Hurricane Center has not listed the system on its official tropical weather outlook for the Atlantic region, but you can quite clearly see it developing off the eastern shores of Florida on a satellite image.

“A non-tropical area of low pressure is expected to form east of the Florida peninsula late this week,” the National Hurricane Center wrote in the official Wednesday forecast. “This system could acquire some subtropical characteristics by this weekend while it moves generally northward. Regardless of development, this low is likely to bring gusty winds to gale force, heavy rain, and high surf to portions of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic United States late this week and into this weekend.” (RELATED: Devastation, Disease Continue To Plague Victims Of Biblical Flooding)

It’s  hoped that a stiff, southerly breeze high above the surface will mitigate any significant impacts from the storm, and perhaps halt its development altogether.