Tropical Storm Julia has suddenly popped up in Florida, dumping rain throughout the northeast portion of the state and along the Georgia coastline.
Schools and government offices elected to remain open, despite the storm formulating Tuesday afternoon off Florida’s Atlantic coast, CBS News noted. The National Weather Service told CBS Miami that Julia was the “first tropical storm to form over land in Florida since records have been kept.”
The last storm to form over land in the United States was Tropical Storm Beryl, which developed over southeastern Louisiana in 1988, according to USA Today.
Most of Julia’s heavy rain and thunderstorms were offshore, which was also the case for Beryl, USA Today noted. If Julia continues at the rate it’s going, it could result in flooding.
According to Hollywood Life, “between 3 and 6 inches of rain is predicted, with some cities within 75 miles of the coast getting closer to 10 inches.”
While the storm has the potential to get stronger, there’s also a possibility that it will die off, depending on where it travels. If it travels offshore, then it can be expected to strengthen. However, the storm could weaken if it stays inland, Hollywood Life noted.
Tropical storms usually need warm water to thrive, and if only part of the storm travels over warm water, it could still develop and intensify, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University.
Brunswick, Georgia, experienced “minor street flooding” from the tropical storm early Wednesday, resulting in some downed limbs and power outages, according to CBS News.
“We were very lucky once again,” said Jay Wiggins, emergency management director for Glynn County. “Really it was not much of an issue for us.”
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