From Dr. Tim Doggett, principal scientist at AIR Worldwide
“The larger scale steering currents, which have been stagnant over the past week, finally shifted a bit in the past day, as a cold front pushed out of Canada and off the east coast. This change in conditions allowed Debby to start moving east with a faster forward speed. This resulted in a landfall last night. Subsequently, Debby has already trekked across Florida and is exiting back out over the Atlantic Ocean. The storms intensity has decreased to 35 mph, while the forward speed has increased to 10 mph to the east-northeast. The impacts have been mostly in terms of heavy rainfall, with Gainesville and Jacksonville getting more than 12″ of rainfall in the past three days, setting new records for the month on June in those locations.”
“Looking forward, Debby is not expected to re-intensify much in the next few days, although it may strengthen from tropical depression to tropical storm at some point. Additionally, the track forecasts are in agreement that the storm should stay well out to sea, and does not pose any further risk to the US. The last area of concern could be Bermuda, but the current expectations are for Debby to be below hurricane intensity as it approaches that area.”
