Andrea Becomes Post-Tropical, But More Heavy Rain Through Friday Evening

More heavy rain is moving through the Garden State as what is left of Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season, is rapidly moving up the East Coast into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  Despite being reclassified as a post-tropical system late this afternoon, Andrea is still packing a punch with torrential rain and gusty winds.

Between 5:00 and 6:00 PM EDT, there was a lull in the action after rain had been falling steadily throughout the day.  The rainfall total at that point at the GWC weather station here in South Plainfield, New Jersey was 1.51 inches for the day, and 1.67 since rain started falling during the late afternoon on Thursday.   However, after 6:00 PM, the rain resumed with almost three  quarters of an inch falling up to the time that I started writing this report.

There has been 2.22 inches of rain from the combination of the cold front and Andrea on Friday, and 2.38 total since late Thursday afternoon.  After this latest burst is done (9:00 PM EDT), there is another round of heavy rain coming through during the 11:00 PM hour.    Prior to this storm, there had been 3.26 inches of rain in May and 0.66 inches earlier this week.  Flooding in the neighborhood is possible with the heaviest rain already adding to the swollen creek, stream, and lake levels in town.  

Currently, the barometric pressure is at 29.64 inches of Hg, or about 1004 millibars.  The pressure has fallen another 0.14 inches, or 4 millibars since this afternoon.  Winds have picked up in the past several hours to be running consistently between 10 and 20 miles per hour.  Stronger winds are expected to stay offshore as the storm moves closer to the area.  Conditions will start to improve in the early morning hours of Saturday. 

As of the 8:00 PM EDT advisory from the National Hurricane Center, post-tropical cyclone Andrea still had 45 mile per hour winds and a minimum central pressure of 996 millibars, or 29.41 inches of Hg.  The storm has continued to accelerate with its forward speed now up to 35 miles per hour in a Northeasterly direction.   Andrea is located some 45 miles to the North-Northeast of Norfolk, Virginia, or 70 miles to the Southwest of Ocean City, Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula.

A Tropical Storm Warning is still in effect from Surf City, North Carolina to Cape Charles Light, Virginia.  Gale force wind conditions could still occur in the Delmarva Peninsula and Southern New Jersey as well as Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts.