Significant flooding may be about to hit parts of Florida and Georgia. Over the weekend, Tropical Storm Debby developed and intensified in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, moving slowly northwards off the west coast of Florida. At the time of writing, forecast models were indicating that the storm was likely to develop into at least a category 1 hurricane before making landfall on Monday, with sustained winds in excess of 75mph. As the storm encounters the very warm coastal waters off western Florida, it may briefly develop into an even stronger storm.
The eye of the hurricane is expected to landfall around the Florida Big Bend region before crossing northern Florida, Georgia, into the eastern Carolinas, and into the Atlantic, during Tuesday and Wednesday. As well as potentially damaging winds, storm surge warnings are in place in coastal regions of Florida. Rainfall totals in excess of 10-20in (250-500mm) may lead to serious flooding across parts of northern Florida, south-east Georgia and South Carolina.
Japan has experienced significant heat recently with temperatures soaring into the high 30Cs in many areas and, last Sunday, temperatures neared 40C in Kyushu, the most southerly of Japan’s main islands. While daytime temperatures soar, across parts of eastern Japan in particular, the night-time minimum temperatures have remained very high, not dropping lower than the mid to high 20Cs. While the extreme heat is likely to continue for a few more days yet, there are signs of a drop in temperature from the middle of this week.
Following very warm or hot conditions across large parts of northern and western Europe last week, a large area of low pressure in the north-eastern Atlantic has, more recently, pushed cooler conditions across many northern European countries, a drop in temperature that has no doubt been welcomed at the Olympics in France. Through this week, hotter weather is likely to return to the Olympics with temperatures nearing 30Cs again in Paris later this week. However, for the final weekend and closing ceremony on Sunday, there looks to be a looming threat of thunderstorms once again.