Expect more rain for the next few days
More than 5 inches of rain falls in some parts of Palm Beach County.
A deep layer of juicy air flowed like a river over South Florida on Tuesday, dumping more than a foot of rain in hard-hit areas, triggering flood watches in Palm Beach County and promising more torrents today.
The southwest coast of the state bore the brunt of Tuesday’s drenching with nearly 15 inches of rain recorded near Everglades City in a 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Miami.
Palm Beach County topped out at a more modest maximum of more than 5 inches in areas of Boca Raton measured by the South Florida Water Management District. The thick cloud cover meant the daytime high only reached 77 degrees in West Palm Beach — a full 11 degrees below normal.
“It’s incredible what’s going on, really,” said Dan Kottlowski, a senior meteorologist with Accu Weather. “When you look at the upper air maps, it doesn’t look like early June.”
The unusual combination of a deep dip in the subtropical jet stream over Florida and leftover moisture from the now fizzled Tropical Storm Beatriz, which
formed in the Pacific this past week, has left South Florida in a soggy situation.
Kottlowski said the polar jet stream is near the Canadian border, but a cold pool of air over the Great Lakes caused a split that pushed the subtropical jet deep into the Gulf of Mexico and across Florida. There is also a slow-moving low pressure system in the northern Gulf helping pull warm, tropical air into Florida.
“We’re going to get rain for the next couple of days,” said Andrew Hagen, a weather service meteorologist in Miami. “Even though that upper-level low will weaken, there is more moisture in the Caribbean and that will spread over the peninsula to enhance rain chances through the weekend.”
The Storm Prediction Center is keeping the Sunshine State at a marginal threat for severe weather today, which means isolated-to-severe thunderstorms are possible with winds up to 50 mph, small hail and a low tornado risk.
A weak tornado was confirmed by the NWS in Broward County late Monday night. No damage was reported with the twister, which was ranked an EF-0, the weakest tornado rating.
The persistent rains Tuesday left some streets with temporary flooding in Boynton Beach.
Resident Bob Brown said he was a little worried about how storm drains would handle the deluge.
“It’s at least 8 inches deep,” he said about standing water on Ocean Avenue in Boynton. “If it was any deeper, I would be concerned I wouldn’t make it through with my Mustang.”
South Florida needed the rain after an unusually parched dry season.
“Bottom line is that it’s rained a lot and is going a long way towards easing the drought, even if it isn’t the usual rainy season process,” said Florida Climatologist David Zierden.
Areas north of Lake Okeechobee that are suffering the worst drought didn’t see as many showers Tuesday. Less than an inch fell on the lake itself between Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon, according to Water Management District radar estimates. The Kissimmee basin, which flows into the lake, received 0.50 to 0.75 inches.
John Campbell, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said lake levels have stopped falling “for now.”
“It hit a low of 10.93 feet above sea level on June 2 and has risen ever since,” Campbell said. “Today the level is 11.08 feet. Only time will tell if the trend continues.”
The Corps prefers to keep the lake between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet for the safety of the Herbert Hoover Dike and health of the flora and fauna.
The next U.S. Drought Monitor report is scheduled to be released Thursday morning.
Today’s forecast includes a 70 percent chance of rain with a high temperature of 84 degrees.