THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 26, 1995 TAG: 9508260376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE
STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
When Hurricane Felix turned tail after taunting the region for most of a week, many folks, while grateful to have escaped harm, were left with one weather wish: How about a little rain?
Well, Jerry has it. And the tropical depression may bring some our way.
The center of the storm moved into Georgia on Friday and its far-flung clouds covered all of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama and reached well into North Carolina. The storm is expected to continue northward into Tennessee.
Meanwhile, the cyclonic assembly line that is the central Atlantic saw yet another tropical wave emerge off the African coast while another in front of it remains well organized and is being watched closely for signs of developing into the season's 12th tropical depression.
Jerry - downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday and forecast to eventually dissipate over land - has proven to be a huge rain-maker in much of Florida and portions of Georgia. The storm dumped more than 15 inches of rain on Naples, Fla., on Thursday; about 10 inches fell over portions of the Florida Panhandle and south Georgia on Friday.
By Friday evening, the storm was north of the Florida-Georgia border near Valdosta.
``The remnants are expected to move slowly to the northwest, reaching southern Tennessee by Sunday morning,'' Richard A. New-hart, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Raleigh, N.C., said Friday. ``The result for North Carolina will be a moist east-to-southeast flow which will result in rainfall over North Carolina beginning late tonight and continuing though Sunday.''
Showers and thunderstorms are expected to be most frequent in the mountains and foothills of North Carolina and Virginia. ``Rainfall could be heavy,'' Newhart said, thus a flash flood watch is in effect today in the central and southern mountains and southern foothills of North Carolina.
A flash flood watch also has been posted for South Carolina with 2 to 4 inches of rain possible across the state.
The ideal scenario for the thirsty Hampton Roads region calls for rain beginning to spread into Virginia on Tuesday and turning into an all-day soaker Wednesday. If the storm track is more to the west, however, southeast Virginia might only be teased with some showers.
The fly in the ointment is a weakening cold front in Jerry's path and a high-pressure system behind it. The high to the north has made this past week one of the summer's most pleasant with drier air and cooler evenings.
But that same high-pressure system, combined with the frontal line, could hold rain to the south, and it was unclear Friday how much precipitation ultimately would make it to Virginia.
So far this month, only 1.23 inches of rain have fallen at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport. Normal rainfall for this point in August is 3.93 inches. Yearly precipitation to date is 20.87, one-third less than the 30.63 inches that typically fall by this date. ILLUSTRATION: TRACKER'S GUIDE
STEVE STONE/Staff [Graphic]
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB