Drenching Debby Changes Course

Tropical Storm Debby could be more than three days from reaching landfall, but already the storm is pummeling Florida's Gulf coast with high surf, strong winds and heavy rain.

The fourth storm of the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season has been difficult to nail down. Forecasters thought on Saturday that Debby was headed for Texas, but now the storm appears on course for Alabama's Gulf coast and Florida's panhandle.

It could have impacts in the South Carolina Lowcountry, though if it the storm makes it this far, its slow pass over the region later in the week will likely just bring rain, forecasters said.

There is, however, a small chance that the Gulf's warm water and Debby's slow locomotion will give the storm time to build into a hurricane.

"Because Debby is forecast to remain over water, there will be some opportunity for a slight srengthening before the center moves inland," a National Hurricane Center forecaster wrote Sunday afternoon.