How will Tropical Storm Debby impact Philadelphia?
Up-to-the-minute predictions of the storm’s path, rainfall forecasts, and how else Debby could impact Philly.
What is Tropical Storm Debby’s path?
From the last tracked location, the predicted path shows the storm moving across the Carolinas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, then progressing into the northeastern states. The cone shows the area the storm might travel, but the exact path remains uncertain and will likely change over the next few days.
Will it impact Philly?
The storm is expected to move into eastern Pennsylvania on Friday. “By the time that it gets up here, it’ll be fairly disorganized,” said Mike Lee, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office. “And when that happens, we’re going to see impacts that are far away from the center of the system.”
This means that even though Philadelphia currently falls outside the cone we could still feel its effects.
How heavy will the rain be in Philly?
The highest risk of heavy rain and flash floods across the region is on Friday. “A little bit of rain Wednesday, a little bit of rain Thursday, and then a lot more rain Friday,” said Lee. Over the next three days there are marginal (at least 5%), slight (at least 15%), and moderate (at least 40%) chances that rainfall will exceed flash flood guidance.
Current forecasts suggest that most places in the Philly area will see an additional 1.5 to 3 inches of rain over the next few days, with some locations seeing higher amounts, according to the National Weather Service.
With Tropical Storm Debby, the weather service predicts that main stem rivers — like the Schuylkill — will be on the rise, potentially leading to river flooding over the weekend.
But Lee cautions against trying to draw comparisons to past storm systems that have resulted in river flooding. “Every single tropical system that we get is almost as unique as every single person,” Lee said. “Trying to compare apples to apples is pretty hard when it comes to something as unique as a tropical system.” He recommends Philadelphians pay attention to any weather warnings and expect heavy rainfall as we near the weekend.
This story will be updated with new forecasts when they’re made available. For more information on Tropical Storm Debby, you can find additional reporting here and updated alerts at weather.gov/phi.
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This story is the first storm tracker made by the Inquirer’s Interactives Desk. We’re looking to improve it for future storms and would love to hear your thoughts. Let us know if any information is unclear, if you would like more details on anything, or just general thoughts on the story by emailing us at interactives@inquirer.com.
Methodology
Forecast data is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The “last updated” time reflects the last time we checked the NOAA for data, which occurs once an hour.
Staff Contributors
- Design, Development, Data, and Reporting: Jasen Lo, Charmaine Runes, Sam Morris, and Dain Saint
- Editing: Sam Morris and Emily Babay
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