Outer Banks, Hampton Roads could see tropical depression

The National Weather Service on Friday night said there is a “high probability” that a storm off the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina will become a tropical depression.

National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Jackson said reconnaissance aircraft are checking to see if the storm is a depression. The next forecast on the storm's activity will be at 11 p.m. Friday .

A tropical depression could form today or Saturday, according to the weather service’s National Hurricane Center. It could bring heavy rainfall to coastal areas of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

"There are pretty good thunderstorms and a low pressure system," said Jackson, who is based in the weather service's Wakefield office. "It's a question of whether it will produce the winds to be considered a tropical storm."

The Outer Banks has a 50 percent chance of rainfall Saturday and Sunday, Jackson said. Hampton Roads has a 30 percent chance of rain for the same period.

"We're not talking about a hurricane," Forecaster Lyle Alexander said Thursday. "At most, it would be a very weak tropical storm."

A storm system with lots of rain could help douse the fires burning since June 9 over 4,400 acres at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Rains last week quieted the fires some but didn't quell the deep layers of smoldering peat.

Putting the fire out requires "a season-ending event," John Calabrese, public information officer for the multidepartmental crew fighting the fire, said on Thursday. "That's what a good tropical storm would be," Calabrese said.

He said 4 or 5 inches of sustained rain are needed.

But as it's forecast now, Alexander said, the area is looking at only a half-inch of rain.

The risk of rip currents Friday continues to be moderate, the weather service says.

John Warren, (757) 446-2309, john.warren@pilotonline.com