Chad Myers: Storm could stall over Arkansas

Chad Myers

Chad Myers is a meteorologist and weather anchor for the CNN News Group based in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Myers has been following Tropical Storm Barry as it developed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall over the Florida Panhandle early Monday morning.

Q: What's the storm's biggest threat?

Chad Myers: There are still two significant threats: flooding and tornadoes. Because this storm has such spin to it, some of the storms that spin around it also have spin to them, and they can spin out tornadoes without really any warning because they're so fast. They're small tornadoes, but they are quick hitting, so people need to be very careful. If you see a big black cell coming toward you, then you really need to be careful because it could have a tornado in it.

Also, the flooding potential for what we call "training storms" -- one storm that runs on top of another and another, kind of like trains on a track -- could reach 6 to 10 inches of rainfall in just a couple of hours. You don't want to drive through that water because you don't know how deep it is.

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The storm surge is all gone; the winds have died down enough to downgrade it to a tropical depression.

Q: Has there been any significant flooding?

Myers: We have some reports of some minor flooding. Most of the heavy rain has been over parts of Florida, and parts of Montgomery, Alabama, saw some heavy rainfall. Panama City, Florida, picked up more than 7 inches, and they could easily pick up 10 inches before the storm is over.

Q: Is the flat terrain of Florida and parts of Alabama and Mississippi more susceptible to flooding?

Myers: It is going to be more susceptible. As you get into northern Georgia and northern Alabama and parts of Arkansas -- where the storm is expected to park itself -- those areas are a lot more hilly so you get a lot more drainage. The Florida Panhandle is going to see flooding, but it's not going to be 6 feet or 8 feet deep if we get this storm to sit over some rugged terrain like they have in Arkansas, Tennessee or West Virginia. However, it's going to be that pause over Arkansas that could cause the most flooding.

Q: The storm picked up speed after making landfall. Is that typical?

Myers: Typically they slow down when they hit, although this one was affected by what we call the midlatitude winds. When they're in the Gulf of Mexico or in the tropics, there's very little wind aloft.

Now where the storm is moving, it is going to basically take the same path as any low pressure or cold front. It will be more affected by winds in the Huntsville/Memphis/Birmingham area, which are stronger than the ones across Cuba and Jamaica.