United States

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

June 26, 2012; 5:40 PM

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Bright House Stadium in Clearwater, Fla., was inundated by Tropical Storm Debby's rainfall Sunday, June 24, 2012. (Image by Phillies pitcher Justin De Fratus)

Not-so-little Debby will continue to bash much of Florida over the next several days with severe weather, rough surf and locally heavy rainfall.

Residents and vacationers in Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and other large cities and smaller communities in Florida should continue to monitor Debby and the potential of severe weather this week.

While the intensity of the overall system is past peak for the next couple of days, the slow-moving system it is far from done in terms of damaging, dangerous and positive impacts covering thousands of square miles.

Debby could slip below tropical storm status, but there also the potential for a rebound later.

Regardless of Debby's path and intensity, the system will retain enough strength and circulation to produce additional rounds of powerful thunderstorms. As a result, there is a continued risk of damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes.

According to Severe Weather Expert Henry Margusity, "Dry air mixing in aloft, combined with wind shear and low-level tropical moisture, will continue to favor the formation of thunderstorms with tornadoes and straight-line wind gusts through Wednesday."

As new clusters or lines of thunderstorms form with the stream of tropical moisture over the region, additional torrential rainfall is forecast at the local level.

An additional half a foot of rain or more could fall on some locations of Florida.

"The situation is still potent in terms of the risks for lowland and urban flooding," Margusity added.

While the drought had already turned around in portions of the state and neighboring Georgia in recent weeks, any non-flooding rain will continued to be welcomed by agricultural and aquifer interests.

While waves were waning with the weakening system, offshore seas will still be rough for fishing interests, and rip currents can still be strong and numerous on area beaches this week.

A fetch of from the Gulf will continue to plow into the west coast of Florida the next couple of days, creating above normal tides and rough surf.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists will continue to monitor the system over the Gulf of Mexico, drift across the Florida Peninsula or redevelopment along the Atlantic coast of Florida in the coming days.