Sunday, August 16, 2009

Alert: Alabama, Florida CoCoRaHS Volunteers

Wow, it is like someone turned on the switch and the tropics are boiling over this morning.

Not only are we tracking Ana and Bill way out in the Atlantic, but now we have a new depression just off the west coast of Florida and it may soon be named Claudette.

CoCoRaHS volunteers all along the Gulf and Atlantic coastlines need to have the rain gauges ready to go in anticipation of what may happen to Bill and Ana over the next week.

But in the short-term, observers in northern and central Florida, as well as southern Alabama, need to have those gauges ready to catch potentially 2 to 4 inches or rain, maybe more in some localized areas.

It would be entirely possible for a spot or two to see 5 to 10 inches of rain.

Remember, if you get into one of these extremely intense rainfall patterns with a landfalling tropical system, your gauge will only hold 11 inches of rain.

So if you can safely monitor your rain gauge, it may be necessary during a landfalling tropical system to dump it and start over if you exceed 11 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period.

Safety first....don't go out in lightning and severe weather.

It looks like Ana will take a more southern route over the mountainous islands of the Carribbean over the next week.

If the current forecasted path pans out, the storm will emerge into the Gulf of Mexico as a weak area of low pressure sometime late next week.

Bill is currently forecasted to grow into the season's first hurricane and move into the southwest Atlantic over the next 5 days, so interests from east Florida to Virginia should keep an eye on this storm.

I am leaving my family in Arkansas today and heading to Dallas, Texas for a meeting with work. Then back to Denver by car on Tuesday.

If I can get online and blog I will, otherwise, see you Wednesday.

Keep in touch with all the latest information from the National Hurricane Center by clicking this link.

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