“As former Tropical Storm Julia pushes up and out of our way, we will see the east and west coast sea breezes coming together, mainly moving from west to east”.
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Julia, the tropical storm that formed over land late Tuesday – a rarity that hasn’t happened in nearly 30 years – weakened to a tropical depression early Thursday morning off the SC coast, meteorologists said.
The storm, centered around southeastern Georgia, had gusting winds as strong as 40 miles per hour (65 kph).
In South Florida, scattered thunderstorms were also expected Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Miami office said in a forecast. Along the front is a developing storm that is producing areas of rain.
Still inland, as recently as 10 a.m. CDT, the National Hurricane Center tracked the center of the storm about 20 miles northeast of Brunswick, adding it was moving north-northeast at 6 mph.
Forecasters expect the storm to strengthen into Tropical Storm Karl on Wednesday night or Thursday.
Some power outages have been reported.
That wind shear and dry air is expected to keep Julia in check, even though the storm will be over warm water.
Overnight, Julia brought wind and rain to the Jacksonville area in northeast Florida, but there were few reports of damage. The storm was about 25 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga., and was “likely to meander near the northern Georgia or southern SC coastlines through Thursday”, according to an advisory issued by the hurricane center Wednesday afternoon.
The only named storm, Tropical Storm Ian, will stay over the open waters of the Atlantic.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say Tropical Storm Julia could mean 4 to 8 inches (102 to 203 mm) of rain along the SC coast through Friday as it moves slowly northeast.
A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for the Georgia Coast northward to Chatham County and there is a high risk of rip currents.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday Ian is located at 32.9 north, 53.6 west; this is about 650 miles east of Bermuda. The storm was forecast to meander and then dissipate offshore in the next few days.
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A prime example of that situation would be Hurricane Katrina, which did not weaken significantly despite moving over land for several hours because it was going over the flat and wet Everglades, Klotzbach said.
