Tropical Storm Arthur dissipated almost as quickly as it formed on Wednesday, but meteorologists’ concerns about it will linger much longer as flooding rains that began on Sunday will spread across the Gulf Coast for the rest of this week.
As the storm moves northeast out of eastern Texas and through the Southeast, the counterclockwise wind flow around its center will continue to draw in what they call a “fetch of moisture” from the Gulf of Mexico. Once it drops over land as heavy rain, this moisture will lead to potentially life-threatening flash flooding through Friday, Richard Bonn, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, said Wednesday afternoon.
Forecasters warned early this week that if Arthur formed, it would not look like a classic tropical storm. The prediction came true Wednesday, and the storm remained fairly misaligned with its center, making landfall in Texas while the worst rain and winds were miles offshore. According to staff members at the National Hurricane Center, the storm was being ripped apart by varying winds almost as soon as it formed.
Since Sunday, flooding rains have fallen ahead of the storm’s formation across the Texas coast, with anywhere from four inches in San Antonio to seven inches in the Houston area.
For Texas, Wednesday was the end of this storm. Even as the center moved near Houston, the worst conditions were still well out over the Gulf of Mexico. That was also what was concerning meteorologists: This area of more intense storms was moving along the coast.
The areas most at risk of flooding included southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and parts of Alabama, Mr. Bonn said. Like Texas, these Southern states — and potentially portions of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle — could record five to 10 inches of rain by the end of the week.
“Within that area, there will likely be isolated higher totals, with some storm totals potentially approaching 20 inches through early Friday,” Mr. Bonn said, noting that portions of Louisiana had already received between five and seven inches.
There is even a possibility that Arthur will reorganize enough to re-form off the East Coast later in the week, but forecasters are still uncertain whether it will — and what form it will take if it does.
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