Update as of 5 pm Monday: Tropical Storm Danny has intensified slightly as it approaches the South Carolina Lowcountry this evening, now with maximum winds now at 45 mph and a motion to the west-northwest at 16 mph. Tropical Storm Warnings continue for Charleston and Berkeley counties.
Update as of 8:00 AM Monday:
The National Hurricane Center now says there is a high chance the tropical low about 190 miles east-southeast of Hilton Head, South Carolina will become a short-lived tropical depression or tropical storm later Monday. Effects are likely to be limited to 30 to 40 mph wind gusts from squalls and a few areas of flash flooding along the coast of Georgia and from about Hilton Head to Charleston, South Carolina Monday afternoon. The disturbance is moving quickly and conditions should improve after sunset on Monday as it moves inland and weakens over interior Georgia.
The strong tropical wave located about midway between the coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles has become better organized Monday morning. The Hurricane Center says the wave has a medium chance of becoming a depression or named storm on its approach to the Lesser Antilles on Wednesday. Regardless of development, the forward motion of the tropical system would likely bring rain to portions of the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola Thursday and Friday.
Original story from Sunday afternoon:
A small area of low pressure east of Savannah, Georgia may briefly become a tropical storm before it moves ashore late Monday, and another tropical wave in the central Atlantic Ocean may gradually develop later this week. Neither of these systems are expected to directly or significantly affect Florida.
The system approaching southeast Georgia Monday is forecast to produce rain squalls and gusty near the Atlantic Coast from roughly Brunswick, GA to Charleston, SC. A few of those cells may briefly develop or rotate into northeast Florida Monday afternoon, but otherwise most areas of the state will remain relatively dry. Otherwise, the only other adverse affect from Monday's system will be a high rip current risk along the Atlantic beaches as the winds pick up a bit offshore.
The tropical wave in the central Atlantic is forecast to approach the Lesser Antilles by Wednesday or Wednesday night, where conditions appear marginally favorable for a tropical depression or storm to develop. Long range forecast data then suggests less favorable atmospheric conditions will exist along its potential journey through the northern Caribbean or near The Bahamas later in the week, depending on its track.
While Florida avoids any tropical storm threats this week, a shift in the wind pattern will make way for tropical moisture to move back across the state by Tuesday or Wednesday. After a two-day break in most spots from the recent heavy rains, numerous showers and thunderstorms will once again likely dot the landscape by midweek, with the heaviest rain targeting the southern half of the state through Friday.
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