The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a forecast Monday as Hurricane Debby makes her way up the western coast of Florida, bringing “life-threatening” conditions to the southeast throughout the week.
As of 5 a.m. Monday morning, Debby’s sustained wind speeds hit 80 mph as she moved north-northeast through western Florida, according to the NHC. “Potentially historic heavy rainfall” across the southeast, including across Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas are expected through at least Saturday morning, along with six to 10 feet of storm surge inundation along the Gulf, NHC shared on Twitter.
5 am EDT: Hurricane #Debby very near landfall in the Florida Big Bend. Life-threatening storm surge expected in portions of Florida and major flooding is forecast for the southeastern U.S. Here are the Key Messages. https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/iPUOesfYM6
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) August 5, 2024
Radar imagery of Debby moving through the Atlantic was shared by meteorologist Craig Setzer, showing her form into a Category 1 hurricane as she makes landfall. “While track forecasts continue to improve, intensity forecasts remain a challenge,” Setzer noted. “Many factors contributed to Debby not becoming much stronger including some shear, dry air, and especially its large initial size.” (RELATED: Weather Radar Systems Keep Glitching And It Could Be A Huge Problem)
Setzer is more concerned about Debby’s “post-hurricane existence,” which could bring huge amounts of rain throughout the southeast.
Debby is making landfall this morning as a category 1 hurricane. And while it was very close, initially it appears it did not meet the definition of rapid intensification (RI) of 30 knots (35 mph) in 24 hours. While track forecasts continue to improve, intensity forecasts remain… pic.twitter.com/qEI8DwH9Vj
— Craig Setzer, CCM (@CraigSetzer) August 5, 2024
Thousands of flights have been cancelled while cruise ships reroute their paths as Debby moves in, Good Morning America reported. A further 9,500 flights have been delayed.
The National Weather Service (NWS) asked residents in the risk area to “prepare now” for the possibility of catastrophic flooding. Georgia and South Carolina should be on alert through Friday morning, while North Carolina appears to be at-risk through at least Saturday.
Impacts from Debby could be felt as far north as West Virginia by Saturday, with the hopes that Debby will downgrade to a tropical depression. So, I guess the east coast has a crappy weekend ahead of us.
