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Tropical storm forms in Atlantic
Chantal's rain won't be first washing over area
weekend tstorms
Accuweather's forecast predicts moisture will be drawn up from the Gulf of Mexico into a trough developing over the Southeast that will cause thunderstorms and lots of rain through the rest of the week. - photo by AccuWeather.com

The third named tropical storm of the hurricane season, Chantal, has formed in the Atlantic. If it becomes a threat to Coastal Georgia it won't be until early next week, according to the National Weather Service.

A graphic released by the service shows there's a 5-10 percent chance  that tropical force winds will reach our coast by early Sunday. If the storm continues toward us it would be a day or two after that when Chantal gets close enough to do damage.

"Slow strengthening is forecast for the next 36 hours…" the service's forecast reads. It should then weaken as it crosses Hispaniola and start to interact with a trough that is moving over the Eastern United States. That trough is expected to bring rain into our area for much of the rest of the week.

And the service's forecast says the trough could move more to the east, causing Chantal to turn more to the west as it near the Bahamas.

 

Here's a story from Accuweather about Chantal's expected impact in the Caribbean. It was written by the company's senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski:

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. July 8 AccuWeather.com reports as Chantal tracks west-northwestward across the Caribbean, the greatest threat from the tropical storm will be from flooding this week.

The Windward Islands will experience tropical storm conditions Tuesday, followed by similar conditions over parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Tuesday night and Wednesday. Haiti and the Dominican Republic would be impacted by Chantal later Wednesday into Thursday.

While fast movement of Chantal will limit the amount of rain on the smaller islands, large mountains on the Greater Antilles will squeeze out tremendous moisture, regardless of the forward speed of the storm.

In most situations similar to Chantal, the worst of the rain and heaviest squalls tend to occur near, east and northeast of the storm track. The conditions tend to "follow" the storm as it moves along.

All interests from the Lesser Antilles to eastern Cuba should be prepared for mudslides and flash and urban flooding.

Chantal will also generate heavy seas and rough surf along its path.

There is the potential for damaging winds and power outages, especially if the tropical system reaches hurricane status along its journey.

Late in the week, Chantal is forecast to turn on a more north to northwest path, which will take it over the Bahamas and waters just east of Florida.

The area from the Bahamas to the Florida Peninsula will first be hit by a non-tropical system moving in from the east Tuesday into Wednesday. This storm in the upper atmosphere is forecast to pack its own torrential downpours, locally heavy squalls and gusty thunderstorms.

Rainfall from either of the two or both systems brings a risk of urban and low-lying area flooding.

Eventually, moisture from either or both systems will be absorbed over the mainland United States, adding to the mosaic of daily showers and thunderstorms, as well as the risk of flash and urban flooding problems.

While rainfall during the summer season is essential for water supplies in the tropics, parts of the Caribbean have already received double their normal rainfall since June 1. Much of the landscape is primed for excessive runoff and flooding.

At San Juan, Puerto Rico, 13 inches of rain has fallen since June 1, compared to a normal rainfall of around 6.50 inches for the period. At St. Croix, Virgin Islands, nearly 8 inches of rain has fallen during the same period, compared to an average of just under 3 inches.

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