After a slow start, hurricane season in the tropics is suddenly “heating up” with Tropical Storm Franklin and Tropical Cyclone Nine about to make landfall and dump life-threatening buckets of rain.
Tropical Storm Franklin in the Caribbean Sea on Monday was moving north — with the center of the storm heading straight toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Like with Hurricane Hilary in California over the weekend, the biggest threats with Franklin are heavy rainfall, flooding and mudslides, according to the National Hurricane Center. Potentially life-threatening flash flooding is possible.
“We could get up to 15 inches of rain, let me say that again, up to 15 inches of rain possible over Haiti and the Dominican Republic as the center moves over on Tuesday and Wednesday,” said National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome.
Meanwhile, a new fast-moving system in the Gulf of Mexico formed on Monday. Tropical Cyclone Nine was expected to strengthen into a tropical storm by the time it reaches the southern coast of Texas on Tuesday.
Up to 6 inches of rain could fall with this storm.
“Rip currents and heavy surf probably mean tomorrow (Tuesday) is not going to be a good day to be at the beach,” Rhome said.
Also, the National Hurricane Center is tracking Tropical Storm Gert to the east of Puerto Rico, but there were no coastal warnings or watches in effect for this system. Gert could become a remnant low or dissipate at any time.
Tropical Storm Emily also became Post-Tropical Cyclone Emily far out in the Atlantic on Monday.
Across the Southwest on Monday, the historic amount of rainfall from Hilary was continuing to spark life-threatening flash flooding, including landslides and mudslides.
So with all these storms forming, will Massachusetts be impacted? The meteorologists at the National Weather Service’s Boston office are “keeping a close eye on” any new tropical storms, but as of now, there are no direct threats to the Bay State.
“The tropics have certainly been heating up in the last couple of days, but these storms are not forecasted to come anywhere close to us,” Kyle Pederson, meteorologist at NWS Boston, told the Herald on Monday.
The region can certainly use a break from severe storms after the recent heavy rain and string of tornadoes. Just on Friday, a whopping five tornadoes were confirmed in southern New England, including three twisters that touched down in Massachusetts. The other two tornadoes were in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
The three tornadoes in the Bay State on Friday bring this year’s overall count to seven tornadoes, well above the annual average of two twisters.
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service last week conducted damage surveys to assess the impact from the tornadoes in: North Attleboro and Mansfield (EF-1 tornado with 90 mph winds); Weymouth (EF-1 tornado with 110 mph); Stoughton (EF-0 tornado with 80 mph winds); Rhode Island (EF-2 tornado with 115 mph winds); and Scotland, Conn. (EF-1 tornado with 100 mph winds).
