Florida Receiving Nice Rains, Watching The Deep Tropics

Florida Soaking Up All The Rains

Waking up to soggy wet morning with tropical rain showers moving in off the warm Atlantic waters. Yesterday, and really the last 5-6 days have been wonderful rain-wise. After being in the moisture tongue behind dissipating Tropical Depression 10 that made landfall near Pensacola, and a surge in deep tropical moisture from the Caribbean ahead of a wave, we have picked up some nice rainfall. The best news about all this rain is that Lake Okeechobee has been seeing some of it. A few days ago I watched on radar as a stationary large thunderstorm dumped close to 4 inches on the northeast side of the lake.

Really statewide the rain coverage has been impressive, with large amounts of heavy and steady rains over a large portion of Florida. Some flooding has taken place in locations that have seen repeated large thunderstorms several time a day, especially along the eastern coast. This will all help with the drought of 2007 and Lake Okeechobee water level trying to get back to a normal level before the approaching dry season later this fall.

In The Tropics This Morning

Things remain active in the deep tropical Atlantic this morning and there are several area’s I continue to monitor for development. Invest 97L that is nearing the southern Windward Islands is still taking it’s time organizing and has not changed much overnight. This needs to be watched as it gets ready to enter the eastern Caribbean. Next is Invest 96L located southwest of the Cape Verde Island by about 500 miles or so. This tropical disturbance looks more organized this morning and it might become a Tropical Depression within the next 24-48 hours as it heads west-northwest into the central Atlantic. If this stays further south over time, it could become a threat to the northern Leeward Islands later this week.

Tropical Invest 96L - East Atlantic Tropical Storm Jerry - More Tropical Now

Our once Subtropical Storm Jerry is now tropical, but about to become extratropical as he heads out into the open northeast Atlantic Ocean. Jerry will be absorbed by a larger extratropical system within the next 12 hours and that will be last of Jerry until we see the name again in 6 years.

I’ll continue to monitor the tropics and will have another update later this afternoon on model data and possible tracks of these systems. Have a great start to the new week.