AccuWeather
Rain showers can temporarily ease the disturbing trend in Florida
Rain and storms will soften Florida, jeopardizing plans and even leading to some hazards, such as frequent lightning and flash floods this week. And even though AccuWeather meteorologists say that a large amount of rain can fall in a very short period of time, leading to localized problems, changing the pattern will also bring some benefits. By 2021 it was an exceptionally wet spring in many areas of the southeastern United States. In addition to many severe weather incidents from the Mississippi River to the Carolina coastline, wet rain has hit much of the area. Cities like Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, have recorded more than double the normal amount of rainfall since March 15, and New Orleans had four times the normal amount of rain in the same period. Excessive rainfall, with some areas bearing 6-10 inches of rain over the three days ending Friday morning, April 16, 2021. (AccuWeather) The incessant rain that hit the central Gulf Coast this week began in the the latter to move further south and east on Saturday. Wet weather returned in parts of the Florida Panhandle, part of the state of Sunshine that accumulated a fair share of rainfall. Pensacola, Florida, has collected a total of 10.05 inches of rain since April 8, while Panama City, Florida, has collected a total of 9.98 inches of rain since then. This rain is already twice as high as normal for the entire month of April and represents half of the rainfall that these cities have received so far this year. Heavy storms spread across North Florida on Saturday and Saturday nights, allowing rain to reach the east coast of Jacksonville. The wet weather will move south into Florida for the second half of the weekend, targeting locations from Jacksonville and Gainesville south to Orlando and Tampa. Popular beaches such as Daytona, Vero and Clearwater will also likely be wet on Sunday. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPLICATION Repeated rounds of rain through Wednesday will likely produce a few inches of rainfall in the area. A 10-inch AccuWeather Local StormMax is possible until Wednesday afternoon. Anyone walking outdoors in these areas will probably want to have raincoats and umbrellas on hand in the first half of the week. The rain may be enough to soften the roads and bring reduced visibility to drivers. Rapid flooding is also possible, especially in low-lying areas. “Too much rain can fall at once and lead to flooding,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. “Excessive rainfall can trigger the risk of sinkholes in a region that has had a history of problems with the geological phenomenon.” It is possible that a few storms that accompany the rain will bring some stronger gusts of wind locally. However, in general, rainfall will be beneficial in central and southern Florida. These parts of Sunshine State have been largely missed by the wet weather that has hit much of the southeastern United States so hard in the past month. As such, central and southern Florida have remained fairly dry. Nearly 50 percent of Florida is experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, which is a step below moderate drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. A small corridor in the southern part of the state is in a moderate drought. This may come as a surprise to some after heavy storms watered parts of the Florida Peninsula last weekend, producing dozens of reports of harmful storms and even breaking some daily records of long-term rainfall, according to the Tampa National Meteorological Service. “Two-thirds of South Florida is now unusually dry, right now at the peak of the state’s annual fire season,” said Brett Anderson, AccuWeather’s senior meteorologist. “This week’s rainfall is expected to significantly reduce the risk of fire for the rest of the month in central Florida,” he said, and this will be before the state’s wet season arrives, which usually begins in May. Not every location that could use rain will be so lucky. Most of the much-needed rainfall is likely to bypass the extreme south of Florida. “Unfortunately, much of South Florida, including the Everglades, is also quite dry, with only 25 to 50 percent of normal rainfall since the beginning of the year,” Anderson added. Naples, Florida, is one of these locations, which, by mid-April, had fallen well above normal rainfall. The city reported only 2.89 centimeters of rain this year, only 37% of normal. Without the help of several rounds of rain, abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions will continue, keeping the risk of fire high in southern Florida until early May. However, all that could change after the arrival of the hurricane season on June 1. AccuWeather’s teams of long-range, tropical meteorologists have been worried about another year above average for hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. The 2020 season was the busiest, with 12 named storms reaching the United States. “Signs for the 2021 hurricane season indicate most of the impacts in Florida, along the east coast of the United States and in South Texas,” Forecaster Paul Pastelok said. “We need to be aware of the risk of excessive rainfall moving east along the Gulf Coast during the spring to early summer balance, which is accompanied by concerns about the tropical systems in that region,” he said. Pastelok. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay up to date with the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo and Verizon Fios.