Tropical Storm Cindy made landfall early Thursday morning near the Texas/Louisiana coast, but its remnants are making its way to the Ohio Valley and Mid Atlantic. More than 3″ of rain may fall over portions of Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
The combination of decaying Cindy lifting north and east up the Ohio River towards the northern Mid Atlantic states combined with multiple shortwave impulses will result in widespread heavy to excessive rainfall today and early tomorrow. Cindy’s remnants are expected to advance from east central Arkansas to northern Kentucky to Maryland/northern Virginia over the next 23 hours. During this trip, Cindy will continue to weaken and will eventually become part of the progressive jet. Meanwhile, an active cold front with a secondary frontal zone will sweep from the Great Lakes to the Northeast while the tail end of the front settles into the south near the Lower Mississippi River Valley.
While Cindy is bringing plenty of moisture north, the frontal system will act as a trigger mechanism to create convective cells. These thunderstorm cells will produce heavy rainfall rates and amounts. Due to the short duration of very heavy rain, there could be flash flood concerns. Remember, turn around, don’t drown; never drive through flood waters.
The frontal system will help push Cindy’s remains out to sea on Saturday, with fair high pressure building in from West to East.
On Saturday, these are the times we believe rainfall will be gone from the area; if the frontal system is a bit faster than forecast, these end times may end even earlier by a few hours.
Washington, DC: 12 noon
Baltimore, MD: 1pm
Philadelphia, PA: 2pm
Trenton, NJ: 3pm
New Brunswick, NJ: 4pm
New York City, NY: 6pm
Atlantic City, NJ: 6pm
