Tropical Storm Chantal forms, moves away from Florida; pattern changes

The National Hurricane Center officially named Depression 3 as Tropical Storm Chantal on Saturday morning. The storm is moving to the north at 1 mph and has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. A new track will be released at 5 p.m.

The winds will be increasing throughout the afternoon and evening hours as Chantal inches closer to the coast of South Carolina. The latest track puts Chantal just south of Georgetown at 8 a.m. Sunday. The rains will arrive before the storm makes landfall. There will be periods of heavy rains affecting the northern South Carolina coast through North Carolina on Saturday through Sunday night as the storm moves inland. The flash flood risk will continue through Monday for the Carolinas.

Florida will be under the influence of tropical moisture pulled from the south-southwest, which, combined with sea breezes, could mean a stormier-than-usual Saturday afternoon. Parts of South Florida have already experienced downpours and isolated storms on Saturday morning. These storms are moving fast from the southwest to the northeast.

A similar trend is expected to occur across Central Florida. Still, a delayed start could mean that the day's heating triggers more intense storms, which could drop higher rainfall from Southwest Florida through the Tampa Bay area and Central Florida, extending to Daytona Beach and Jacksonville. This is the reason why this region has a marginal risk of flash floods. Be cautious of flooded roads, as the water may be deeper than anticipated.
Overall, Central Florida is expected to receive over 4 inches of rainfall, with some isolated areas potentially receiving more than 6 inches. Remember, this is in addition to all the rain received this past week.

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Sunday looks to be another day of summer across the Peninsula. The difference will be that there could be more pockets of embedded dry air, which could limit thunderstorm formation in many areas. There will still be some isolated storms, mainly developing along the sea breeze boundaries, particularly across inland locations. However, with the southwest winds prevailing, a few storms could move over the eastern half of the peninsula. The Panhandle remains the driest region in Florida, at least until Tuesday morning, when showers are expected to return to the forecast.