TS Barry, His Center and a Waterspout
Barry has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression as of 11 AM. AccuWeather.com Weather Photo Gallery photographer ftogf shares this photo of blue sky and clouds, saying "Tropical Storm Barry gave us some much needed, 1.9 inches, rain, no wind, even sunshine. Whole of Florida enjoyed this storm."
ORIGINAL POST:
Tropical Storm Barry is nearing landfall in Florida this morning. The Doppler Estimated Precip maps (see links below) are not doing a great job showing how much rain has fallen. Tropical Storms are always challenging to these algorithms because their rain density makes it hard for the radar to "see through" the storm, and because there are no neighboring radars to help estimate readings. However, the NWS Precip site which combines radar with rain gauge amounts has done a good job showing where the heaviest rain has fallen, on the order of 6 to 8 inches on the east coast of Florida:
Buoy and coastal station readings have not been greatly impressive, so far we have the following (links below are live):
Highest Wind Gust: 41 knots (42003 and 41009)
Highest Wave Height: 13.5 feet (42003 in Gulf)
Lowest Pressure: 29.52" (Clearwater Beach)
Lowest Unofficial Pressure: 29.47" (CW2932)
There are some strange sporadic wind gusts coming out of the Clearwater Beach station (ARCHIVED) and also Naples, FL (ARCHIVED), including a 65 knot gust earlier this week, and I'm not buying it.
It's unclear where the center is, because the old center wiped out when it got near land and is completely gone. NHC is not talking about this yet, that I could find. It could have transferred to a secondary center underneath the heavy thunderstorms to the north. Those storms have produced about 200 lightning strikes on their way in. You can see a screen capture from AccuWeather.com RadarPlus above showing the 2-hour lightning strikes on a Visible Satellite. The end of the dissipating center is on the left side of the map.
A smattering of Tornado Warnings for radar-indicated storms went out last night over South Florida, but despite a Tornado Watch, it has been a quiet morning thus far (10 AM). Yesterday afternoon the StormMatrix says that the NWS reported that a "WATERSPOUT MOVED ONSHORE SUGARLOAF KEY AS A TORNADO NEAR MILE MARKER 19. MINOR DAMAGE REPORTED TO ONE STRUCTURE."
Below is a 9-hour radar loop from RadarPlus. As you can see, it's hard to pick up the circulation from the Tampa radar, but it gives a good overview of the thunderstorms which have pounded the state. You can download the original loop here.
Report a Typo
