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Writer's pictureBryan Norcross

CRISTOBAL HEADS NORTH – SAHARAN DUST QUIETS SOUTH FLORIDA WEATHER

The center of Cristobal’s circulation is moving north away from the Gulf coast. It will track along the Louisiana/ Mississippi border, plus or minus today, and then across the Midwest and into Canada over the next couple of days. But, the center is increasing less relevant.

Winds have decreased overall, although they are still strong enough at the coast that storm surge is continuing. Gulf water will continue be pushed over the land during high tide to surprising levels in low-lying areas. That will let up later today.

The biggest remaining threat, however, will be from flooding from the heavy rain in the Deep South. Widespread areas across the South are forecast to get over a foot of rain. All the water that has fallen and will continue to fall will eventually drain to the Gulf through rivers and streams, meaning the flood threat will continue for some days to come.

The milky look to the sky in South Florida has been caused by the excess of tropical moisture pulled into the region by Cristobal, plus a bit of Saharan Dust that has blown across the Atlantic from Africa. Even though the air at the surface of the earth, where we live, is still extremely moist, a little higher up in the atmosphere the air is quite dry, thanks to the dust. That’s why rain chances continue to be fairly low.

On Wednesday night or Thursday, much drier air is forecast to push in off the Atlantic, and finally break the grip the tropical moisture has had on our atmosphere. The air should be noticeably more comfortable into the weekend.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, there is a very slight chance that a low-pressure system expected to develop near Bermuda will become tropical enough to warrant advisories by the National Hurricane Center. But even if it happened, it’s forecast to stay in the center of the Atlantic. The rest of the Atlantic should stay quiet as Saharan dust is forecast to dominate the atmosphere for the next couple of weeks.


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