ST. LOUIS — 5 On Your Side is in Storm Alert as Tropical Depression Cristobal impacts Missouri and Illinois Tuesday.
Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall along the Louisiana coast Sunday evening after meandering across parts of Central America this last week. The storm has weakened and is now a tropical depression.
The storm continues to move to the north and will pass west of the St. Louis area into Tuesday. Gusty winds will spread across the area into Tuesday. Winds may gust to 40 mph, especially in Illinois during the day Tuesday.
On Tuesday, there may be enough spin in the atmosphere to create a few brief tornadoes, particularly east of the Mississippi River. This is not uncommon with tropical systems over land.
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This is the third named tropical system in the Atlantic basin this year and the earliest in the season to reach three named storms. Usually, the third named storm occurs around Aug. 13.
While the storm's winds have weakened as it moves inland, the heavy tropical rains continue to spread north through Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
The potential of 4 or more inches of rain exists over parts of the Ozarks into Mid-Missouri Tuesday. A flash flood watch is in effect for western and southwestern parts of the 5 On Your Side viewing area.
In looking at the weather records going back to 1879 in St. Louis, the remnants of tropical weather systems impact our area about every three to five years. This will be the earliest tropical weather system to impact the region. The two earliest storms to impact our region happened before hurricanes were given names. A tropical system moved through eastern Missouri on June 14, 1906 and the second earliest was on June 15, 1901.
Last year, the remnants of Barry moved through our area in July. In August 2012, the remnants of Isaac produced one weak tornado in Missouri and three weak tornadoes in Illinois.
The remnants of Gustav and Ike moved through in September 2008. The heavy rain associated with Ike produced areas of historic flooding.