The latest 7-day QPF forecast (that’s Quantitative Precipitation Forecast) for the Southeast shows that most areas should receive at least an inch of rain in the next week, thanks to a continuation of the summertime pattern of daily thunderstorms. The driest areas are expected to be northern Virginia (which really needs the rain) and a band from SE Georgia down the east coast of Florida. We don’t expect to see much impact from Hurricane Hanna (declared Saturday morning), which will bring heavy rain to the South Texas coast, but we could see some showers from residual moisture streaming out of that system, especially along the Gulf Coast. I don’t see any 24-hour period that is likely to be dry, which could cause problems for farmers who need dry conditions to do fieldwork, although with scattered showers some areas will get hit and others missed. Temperatures should come down a bit due to more cloud cover. TS Gonzalo is expected to fizzle south of Cuba so should not affect us.

Some models are indicating the potential for tropical activity along the East Coast the first week of August, but that is so far in the future that we can’t do any planning for it yet. Still, something to watch now that waves are rolling off of Africa. The next name on the list is Isaias, which I am told is pronounced ees-ah-EE-ahs by someone who speaks Spanish better than I do.

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