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Katia growing; still way off
Rain may come from another source
katia thur noon
At mid day Thursday, Katia was still more than 1,000 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands. - photo by NOAA graphic

Hurricane Katia is expected to develop into a major storm over the next few days, but forecasters say it is still too early to say if it will threaten Coastal Georgia.

"Katia  is moving westward at  16 knots to the south of a subtropical high," a discussion on the National Hurricane Center's web site post at 11 a.m. says. "The hurricane is expected to slow down and turn to the west-northwest during the next 12-14 hours as it approaches a weakness in the ridge. The model guidance becomes very divergent in 4 to 5 days…"

Whatever the route, forecasters say the storm is not expected to be any threat to the Southeast until at least the middle of next week, if then.

Another system that is developing in the Gulf of Mexico does have forecasters attention and could actually bring welcome news to drought-stricken parts of the Gulf States and Georgia.

"A trough of low pressure located over the central Gulf of Mexico is producing large areas of cloudiness and thunderstorms…" the site reports, adding conditions could turn it into a tropical depression later today.

National and regional weather forecasters say the storm would likely come ashore somewhere from Texas to Alabama and then start drifting to the east. If that happens, areas covered by the storms will see significant rain.

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