Severe weather onslaught to batter Florida yet again
By
Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Apr 23, 2020 4:18 PM EDT
Additional rounds of severe thunderstorms and torrential downpours will ignite across Florida through the weekend, following a chaotic start to the week with violent weather. Severe storms ripped across the Sunshine State on Monday, triggering a slew of tornadoes, including an EF0 that tore across I-75 in Marion County.
The late-week storms follow a severe weather outbreak that blasted the south-central United States during Tuesday and Wednesday and continued to advance eastward on Thursday. This latest severe weather outbreak has already claimed more lives.
Like Monday, the storms will continue to fire along a slowly advancing cold front. The storms on Monday produced three tornadoes, and more than a dozen incidents of strong winds.
Severe storms wreaked havoc across portions of Florida on Monday, April 20, 2020. (Robby Hamoud via Storyful)
"The main threats from the storms into Friday evening will be for strong wind gusts and torrential downpours," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Randy Adkins said. There is also the potential for an isolated tornado or waterspout as well.
"An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 60 mph is projected for the wind gusts outside of any tornado," Adkins added.
Those heading to the beach while practicing social distancing should keep alert for rapidly changing weather conditions. Florida averages more than a million lightning strikes per year and has the most cloud-to-ground strikes per square mile of any state in the U.S. Between 2009 and 2018, 49 people were killed by lightning in Florida, which recorded the highest number of fatal lightning strikes during the same time frame, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The cold front and storms sagged into the northeastern counties of the state on Thursday night. As the band of storms advances southward into Friday night, new storms will likely erupt over the Gulf of Mexico and propagate northeastward along the southward-inching band.
Some communities can be hit by more than one storm with repeating downpours and the risk of urban flooding. A general 1-2 inches of rain is forecast with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 3 inches.
The swath of wet weather will continue to expand southward over the Peninsula on Saturday.
The rain will be a shot in the arm for some communities as rainfall totals since March 1 generally range from 20% to 60% of normal.
Some needed downpours and cooler air will reach the southern counties.
The front will slash temperatures a bit on Friday and Saturday. Highs will trend downward from the lower to middle 90s to the middle to upper 80s F.
Temperatures have been running well above average across the Sunshine State this month. Miami's average temperature is a whopping 6.9 degrees above normal since April 1, while Orlando's is 5.4 degrees above the average.
Grueling heat on Easter Sunday and Monday led to new record highs in Orlando at 94 and 97, respectively, and Miami has tied or shattered record highs eight days so far this month.
The front will slow down, stall and wash out over the middle part of the peninsula on Saturday. Even though the weather is not likely to reach severe levels, there can be a couple of rounds of showers and thunderstorms. The National Weather Service (NWS) defines a severe thunderstorm as one producing wind gusts of 58 mph or greater and/or a tornado or 1-inch-diameter hail.
As a storm pivots across the Midwest and Northeast, a second trailing cold front could jump-start the storms over part of the Florida Peninsula on Sunday, when there may be some heavy-duty storms around.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo
News / Severe Weather
Severe weather onslaught to batter Florida yet again
By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Apr 23, 2020 4:18 PM EDT
Additional rounds of severe thunderstorms and torrential downpours will ignite across Florida through the weekend, following a chaotic start to the week with violent weather. Severe storms ripped across the Sunshine State on Monday, triggering a slew of tornadoes, including an EF0 that tore across I-75 in Marion County.
The late-week storms follow a severe weather outbreak that blasted the south-central United States during Tuesday and Wednesday and continued to advance eastward on Thursday. This latest severe weather outbreak has already claimed more lives.
Like Monday, the storms will continue to fire along a slowly advancing cold front. The storms on Monday produced three tornadoes, and more than a dozen incidents of strong winds.
Severe storms wreaked havoc across portions of Florida on Monday, April 20, 2020. (Robby Hamoud via Storyful)
"The main threats from the storms into Friday evening will be for strong wind gusts and torrential downpours," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Randy Adkins said. There is also the potential for an isolated tornado or waterspout as well.
"An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 60 mph is projected for the wind gusts outside of any tornado," Adkins added.
Those heading to the beach while practicing social distancing should keep alert for rapidly changing weather conditions. Florida averages more than a million lightning strikes per year and has the most cloud-to-ground strikes per square mile of any state in the U.S. Between 2009 and 2018, 49 people were killed by lightning in Florida, which recorded the highest number of fatal lightning strikes during the same time frame, according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
The cold front and storms sagged into the northeastern counties of the state on Thursday night. As the band of storms advances southward into Friday night, new storms will likely erupt over the Gulf of Mexico and propagate northeastward along the southward-inching band.
Some communities can be hit by more than one storm with repeating downpours and the risk of urban flooding. A general 1-2 inches of rain is forecast with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 3 inches.
Related:
The swath of wet weather will continue to expand southward over the Peninsula on Saturday.
The rain will be a shot in the arm for some communities as rainfall totals since March 1 generally range from 20% to 60% of normal.
Some needed downpours and cooler air will reach the southern counties.
The front will slash temperatures a bit on Friday and Saturday. Highs will trend downward from the lower to middle 90s to the middle to upper 80s F.
Temperatures have been running well above average across the Sunshine State this month. Miami's average temperature is a whopping 6.9 degrees above normal since April 1, while Orlando's is 5.4 degrees above the average.
Grueling heat on Easter Sunday and Monday led to new record highs in Orlando at 94 and 97, respectively, and Miami has tied or shattered record highs eight days so far this month.
The front will slow down, stall and wash out over the middle part of the peninsula on Saturday. Even though the weather is not likely to reach severe levels, there can be a couple of rounds of showers and thunderstorms. The National Weather Service (NWS) defines a severe thunderstorm as one producing wind gusts of 58 mph or greater and/or a tornado or 1-inch-diameter hail.
As a storm pivots across the Midwest and Northeast, a second trailing cold front could jump-start the storms over part of the Florida Peninsula on Sunday, when there may be some heavy-duty storms around.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo