Strong Florida storms, and flood advisories, before a cool change in time for Thanksgiving
Think twice about your outdoor life the next few days. You may want to lean into your indoor life.
Blame it on what’s before a cold front pulls temperatures down to the low 60s and maybe the upper 50s in South Florida Tuesday into Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Ahead of the front’s arrival: lots of moisture in the form of storms and gusty winds.
Thursday afternoon and evening brought heavy rains and flood advisories to South Florida.
Downtown Miami flooding with water overtaking streets and sidewalks neat the performing arts center. Social media videos show residents having to push waterlogged and stuck cars out of flooded areas.
Other areas of the city were immersed in heavy traffic as commuters tried to navigate flood waters.
Additionally, Miami Beach saw similar conditions as the National Weather Service warned residents to be extra careful of flooded streets during the night as it is hard to gauge their depths.
Key West saw 1.7 inches of rain Thursday, the weather service said, and it’s a 50-50 chance for more on Friday, though the trend on the island chain is toward drier air into the weekend.
More flooding, winds?
Friday and Saturday remain unsettled with rain chances ranging from 50% to 70% through the days in South Florida and 30% to 50% in the Keys.
Some of that rainfall into the weekend could lead to flooding again, the weather service warned Friday.
A new round of flood advisories from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County arrived along with the Friday downpours. The alerts noted that the heaviest rains were moving southward. The flow meant Palm Beach cleared sooner than Miami-Dade, which saw more soaking during the evening commute, according to the weather service.
“Netflix and chill,” a downtown Miami resident who lives off Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 11th Street told Miami Herald news partner CBS4 about Friday night plans, given the likelihood for more street ponding Friday. That area was particularly hard hit Thursday.
On Saturday, the weather service issued a wind advisory for coastal Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties given the likelihood of frequent northeast wind gusts around 35 mph that could last until midnight.
“These gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects,” meteorologists said.
Bradenton forecast
Bradenton and the Tampa Bay area will get most of its rain out of the way Thursday on a 70% chance but Friday only sees a 20% chance of rain and it’s clear skies through the holiday, with Monday’s cold front dropping temperatures to the low 50s and 49 on Tuesday night.
Weather for Thanksgiving?
It’s still a bit early to say for certain, but it’s looking like a nice holiday awaits on Thursday. Temperatures should be on the cool side, with highs only in the low- to mid-70s in South Florida and the Keys but less humidity and clear skies, meteorologists say. Tampa Bay’s high on the holiday could be about 70 degrees.
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 10:08 AM.
