UPDATE: Tropical Storm Cindy became a named storm today.  Please keep an eye on the Gulf as the storm continues to develop and heads north.

As I noted earlier, the tropics are becoming more active, and Tropical Storm Bret has formed off the coast of South America.  It is not expected to grow and may dissipate shortly. However, another area of tropical weather in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to strengthen and may become TS Cindy in a day or two. The National Hurricane Center is now putting out a 5-day cone of potential motion for areas that are expected to become tropical storms. The latest projected path of the storm is shown below.

While most of the Southeast will be missed by the direct path of the storm as it is currently forecast, it will be on the right side of the storm, which could mean effects of wind, rain and possible small tornadoes. In fact, rain is already falling in parts of Florida.  In addition, in northeast Alabama and northern Georgia, winds on Saturday could be strong enough to topple trees in the saturated soils there. If you have damaged trees that are overhanging houses or other buildings in that area, you might want to consider getting them taken down before the wind does it for you.

 

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