Tropical depression is zipping up the Florida coast. How will that affect us now?
A tropical depression is skidding along Florida’s southeastern coast, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of the storm’s path just yet.
As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, the storm was off West Palm Beach, steadily moving north with winds of 35 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It looks like it will remain offshore and will eventually move northeast, pushing it farther away from Florida.
Forecasters in the southwest of Florida are also keeping an eye on a disturbance which may form over the northern Gulf of Mexico by late Wednesday or Thursday.
As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, there’s a low— almost zero percent chance — it could form into a significant weather system in the next 48 hours, the hurricane center states, and a 20 percent chance it could form in the next five days.
The Atlantic depression’s change in trajectory has also changed the Florida forecast.
“We’re dry in Miami-Dade and Broward counties,” said Lisette Gonzalez, meteorologist for Miami Herald news partner CBS4 on Tuesday. “That’s the great news this morning.”
That luck may change by Tuesday afternoon.
There’s a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. It’s a much better outlook than Monday, when the depression was projected to slightly go inland and bring 60 to 70 percent chance of rain Tuesday.
The rest of the week looks like it will stay as expected. Wednesday and Thursday is looking at 30 to 50 percent chance of rain, until Friday when it drops to a low 20 percent. The chance of rain in South Florida stays pretty low then until Sunday, but the risk should be gone by Sunday night.
Traveling to the Keys?
You might get rained on Tuesday, but Key West’s weather service is predicting the area will only have a 20 to 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms the rest of the week.
South Florida’s hazardous weather outlook is also still predicting scattered thunderstorms over local waters, with wind gusts up to 50 mph, a moderate risk of rip currents and the possibility of some flooding because of the depression’s heavy rainfall. There’s also the potential for waterspouts, particularly over the Atlantic and Lake Okeechobee waters.
Those in the Palm Beach area aren’t so lucky. There’s a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms all day Tuesday, including night, according to the weather service. That 60 percent chance of rain looks like it’s staying until Friday, when it drops to a low 20 percent.
There might also be some street flooding with heavy rainfall possibly bringing at least between a tenth and quarter of an inch of rain, at least until Wednesday night.
While the depression may not be a tropical storm, boaters might not want to go into the waters Tuesday. Besides the moderate risk of rip currents and watersprouts, the winds could reach up to 25 knots as far as 60 nautical miles off the Palm Beach County coast Tuesday morning, according to the hazardous weather outlook.
Once the weekend comes along, it looks like we’re back to Florida’s regular summer weather: Sunny with a slight risk of showers.
This story was originally published July 23, 2019 at 7:29 AM.
