The risk of flash flooding is expected to spread eastward along the Gulf coast from what was once Hurricane Nicholas. Meteorologists are monitoring two other disturbances that are candidates to become tropical depressions this week.
Nicholas became a tropical storm once again early Tuesday morning after attaining hurricane strength for a brief time late Monday evening. The hurricane made landfall shortly after midnight, local time, on the Matagorda Peninsula, roughly halfway between Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Nicholas' winds will continue to gradually diminish, but its heavy rain will continue several more days along the Gulf coast.
Flash Flood Watches from coastal southeast Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, where an additional 5 to 10 inches of rain is forecast Tuesday and Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center said localized amounts up to around 20 inches was possible along and ahead of Nicholas' track.
Areas of flash flooding are also possible into the western Florida Panhandle on Wednesday and Thursday, where 3 to 5 inches of rain are in the forecast. Increasing moisture between Nicholas and a high pressure area in the Atlantic Ocean will also cause more thunderstorms over much of Florida, Georgia, and into South Carolina through the end of the week.
An area of low pressure is still forecast to form a few hundred miles north of the Bahamas on Wednesday. It has a good chance to become a tropical depression or tropical storm on its northward journey, which would take it near or just east of the North Carolina Outer Banks late Thursday or early Friday. Some models forecast the system to clip far southern New England on Saturday before moving out to sea.
A strong tropical wave about 400 miles south of the Cape Verde Islands Tuesday morning is showing signs of organization. It is forecast to become a depression or named storm on Wednesday or Thursday. Additional strengthening is possible as it stays over the open tropical Atlantic Ocean through the upcoming weekend.
