Saturday Tropical Update: What Will Happen With The Remnants Of Erika?

Cuba has sounded a cyclone alert in four provinces due to the proximity of tropical storm “Erika”, which may pass the Cuban shores on Saturday, a media report said. Most computer models have the remnants of Erika approaching the Florida Panhandle and eventually pushing inland Tuesday into Wednesday.

All that rain is expected to move northward over the next few days, and forecasts suggest parts of the Florida peninsula could get more than 6 inches over the next week. It looks to be moving into the Gulf of Mexico where it could potentially strengthen slightly before reaching the west coast of Florida. A tropical-storm warning and a hurricane watch have been issued for the islands, the Weather Channel reported.

According to Cuba’s Institute of Meteorology, Erika is maintaining maximum sustained winds of 85 km per hour. “That is encouraging news, but [it] doesn’t mean we stop watching this weather system”, CNN quoted his as saying after he received an update on the storm’s status. Most of the rainfall will stay in the far southeastern United States. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Conditions will be favorable for tropical development in the next two to five days.

“These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides”, forecasters said.

Forecasts called for the weather system to dump 3-10 inches of rain across portions of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and eastern and central Cuba through Sunday. Sections of Florida could see 2-5″+ of rainfall through early this week”.