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The well-defined tropical wave hanging over Cuba has officially become the fourth storm of the 2024 hurricane season – although experts are divided over whether it will eventually become the year’s second hurricane.
We’ll have our answer quickly, though, as the system is projected to make landfall somewhere near Florida’s Big Bend region on Monday morning.
As of 5:00 a.m. EDT, Tropical Depression Four – awaiting its christening as Debby – was situated approximately 195 miles south-southwest of Key West, Florida. And while its maximum sustained winds were a mere 30 miles per hour – just below the 39-mph threshold necessary to become a named storm – it is projected to intensify before striking Florida.
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Saturday AM NHC Tropical Update on TD #4. Tropical Storm Warnings extended northward. Hurricane Watch for northern Florida. Watching for a southeast slowdown. Then Atlantic coast restrengthening. https://t.co/Hk3pbO7x8H pic.twitter.com/uZDS0pkvIm
— Mike's Weather Page (@tropicalupdate) August 3, 2024
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Current forecasts from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) do not call for this system to attain hurricane-strength prior to landfall, but not everyone is buying those projections.
“My experience. My gut. My feeling. This is not going to be just a Tropical Storm in the Gulf,” Florida-based weather expert Mike Boylan noted on X. “We will see a Hurricane nearing the upper Gulf late Sunday into Monday.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis has already declared a state of emergency in fifty-four Florida counties in anticipation of the storm’s arrival.
“Floridians are encouraged to monitor weather conditions, listen to all orders from local officials, create disaster preparedness plans, and stock disaster supply kits with food, water, and other necessities for their households,” a release from the Sunshine State’s emergency management agency noted.
Florida residents aren’t the only ones who should be prepared.
“Residents of the Palmetto State – especially those residing in and around flood-prone Charleston, S.C. – should pay close attention to this developing storm,” I noted yesterday.
Why? Because rainfall projections associated with the system’s current forecast track are calling for a veritable deluge along the coast of the Palmetto State – centered around the historic Holy City.
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These elevated rainfall totals are based on forecasters’ belief that the storm’s forward motion will stall a bit as it moves over Florida and Georgia early next week.
As it stands now, the storm is moving toward the west-northwest at approximately 16 miles per hour.
“A turn toward the northwest is forecast today, followed by a northward motion on Sunday and then a slower northeastward motion Sunday night and Monday,” forecasters noted. “On the forecast track, the center of the depression will move across western Cuba this morning, and then move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico later today and Sunday, reaching the Florida Gulf coast late Sunday or Monday.”
Count on this media outlet to keep our audience in the loop on the latest developments related to this system and its potential impact on the Palmetto State.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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