By Clint Thompson
A November tropical storm threat is not uncommon for the Southeast. That means increased rainfall chances this week for the region’s specialty crop producers from what remains of Tropical Storm Sara.
The storm formed in the western Caribbean, made its way into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend and is slated to impact parts of the Southeast sometime Tuesday and Wednesday.
“(November storms) certainly don’t come every year, but if we’re going to get one, that would be the place they would likely develop,” said Pam Knox, University of Georgia Extension agricultural climatologist. “November is the tail end of the season. We have had storms as late as December before. November 30 is not the magic deadline. I don’t have any reason to think we’re going to get anything in December, but it’s been such a crazy year you just never know.”
While much of the summer was absent hurricane activity, there has been a flurry of activity in the past couple of months. It included Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26-27 and followed by Milton on Oct. 9. That doesn’t even include Rafael that formed but posed no threat to the U.S.
“The pattern this year has been such where we’ve had one storm after another developing in that pocket in the western Caribbean. Where they go after that has been all over the place. With Rafael it kind of fizzled out. Some of the other ones have come up in this direction,” Knox said. “(Sara) could still come east into Florida and bring rain. It’s warm enough in the Gulf that it could spin back up a little bit. I don’t think we’re going to see anything here in Georgia, maybe a little rain. Otherwise, I think it’s mostly going to be a Florida event.”