EDWARDSVILLE — As the leftovers of what was once Tropical Storm Cristobal roll over the area from south to north Tuesday, it will likely mark the earliest in recorded history that a tropical system has affected this region.

It’s worth noting that by then, Cristobal will be a tropical depression, not a tropical storm or a hurricane. Tropical systems use warm ocean water as their “engines.” Once over land, that engine dies and the system fades to a tropical depression before reducing later to a remnant low-pressure system.

Cristobal should affect the area after midnight Tuesday and drop between 0.5 and one inch of rain, compared to two to three inches of rain in central Missouri. While we may not see as much rain as other locations, the depression’s winds will hit the area equally, with gusts of 35-40 miles per hour possible Tuesday.

As Cristobal’s leftovers head north-northeast into the Great Lakes area, a separate low-pressure system with a cold front will come through Tuesday afternoon and evening with scattered severe storms setting up east of the Mississippi River.

Previously, the two earliest dates for tropical storm leftovers to affect this area were June 15, 1901, and June 14, 1906. Tropical systems in the U.S. did not get names until 1953 and then they were only named for women. Coed naming began in 1979 and continues today, with storms in various parts of the world adopting regional names.

Hawaii dealt with Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Storms in the western Pacific and Indian oceans are called typhoons but are otherwise synonymous with hurricanes in the eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Using records that date back to 1879, our region typically experiences a similar system every three to five years. Hurricane season begins June 1 and runs until Nov. 30, but tropical systems can form during any month of the year. The season’s peak happens Sept. 10 each year. Recent tropical systems to affect our region include:

• Candy in 1968 (spawned five tornadoes in Missouri)

• Gustav and Ike in September 2008; Ike produced historic flooding

• Isaac in August 2012 spun up some weak tornadoes, one in Missouri and three in Illinois

• Barry was the most recent system to blow through here in July 2019

Reach reporter Charles Bolinger at (618) 659-5735