Local weather update: Potential tropical system could lead to continued rainfall

Sam Chaney, News Editor

If you have any beach events slated for the coming Memorial Weekend, you may want to keep an eye on the weather and set an alternative plan.

Not only has steady rainfall already kept the local Jacksonville area soaked for the last week, a potential tropical system forming just east of Belize may continue to keep the area saturated.

According to an update by the National Hurricane Center, some gradual subtropical or tropical development is possible late this week while the system moves slowly northward into the central or eastern Gulf of Mexico.

There is reportedly a 40 percent chance of the system becoming the season’s first named tropical or subtropical storm over the next five days, in which case it would be named “Alberto.”

“Although the storm currently has a relatively low chance of development into a tropical system, we must take it seriously,” Gov. Rick Scott said in a prepared statement on Tuesday, May 22.

Jacksonville is expected to possibly receive 1 to 1.5 inches of rain over the next five days.

Spinnaker will keep updating this story as more information becomes available.

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