Storm clouds to stick around

Meteorologists: Wet weekend weather may invite tropical system

Those rain clouds that strolled in overhead are going to spend the weekend on the coast. And there's at least a chance they'll invite a tropical depression to join them.

"We're watching it," said fore- casters for the National Weather Service and AccuWeather.com, a private forecasting company, on Thursday. The Post and Courier is an AccuWeather.com customer.

The National Hurricane Center on Thursday gave a 50-50 chance that the low-pressure system spinning along the coast off the Georgia- Florida border will slowly develop into a tropical system, weather ser- vice meteorologist Steve Rowley said.

"It's got potential for development. The water's pretty warm out there," he said.

Either way, today will be gusty and showery β€” at times very showery β€” particularly closer to the ocean. The more the sun peeks through, the bigger the chance for thunderstorms. Saturday might be just as bad. Sunday, things might clear up.

"The low pressure system is going to meander northward over the next few days, hugging the coastline," said Jon Pacheco, meteorologist at AccuWeather.com. "When you do get under a storm, it's definitely going to be some heavy rain. But the next hour, the sun might pop through. The poor drainage areas, they're going to have some problems."

Pacheco doesn't expect the low-pressure system to develop into a tropical system; it is too unorganized, he said.

Computer models on Thursday forecast the system to move out of South Carolina on Saturday, but Rowley wasn't convinced it would move that quickly, he said.

"I'm pretty pessimistic about Saturday. It's probably going to be wet more often than not through Saturday. Sunday could end up being a pretty decent day. But that forecast is subject to change," he said. "This is a really interesting situation here, even without a tropical system."

Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.