(C) Common Dreams
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Record rains hit South Florida, causing disastrous flooding [1]
['Matthew Cappucci']
Date: 2024-06-13
The episode comes 14 months to the day since an incredible 22.5 inches fell on Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport in a single day, leading to unprecedented flood impacts. Both episodes bear the fingerprint of human-caused climate change, which is increasing the intensity and severity of top-tier rain events.
To make matters worse, the ongoing rain event is far from over, and another half-foot or more of rain could fall in some spots before downpours finally wind down into Friday. In some areas, roadways are still impassable due to high water.
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The National Weather Service issued a rare “high risk” outlook for excessive rainfall for parts of South Florida, including Miami and Naples on Thursday. These outlooks are issued on only 4 percent of days but account for a third of all flood-related fatalities and 80 percent of flood-related damage.
How much rain has fallen?
Here’s how much rain fell just on Wednesday:
12.71 inches in Hollywood
12.6 inches along Interstate 75 (Alligator Alley) in rural north Collier County
12.1 inches at the Miami Date College North Campus
10.63 inches in North Miami
10.85 inches at Dania Beach
10.63 inches in North Miami
10.4 inches at Miami Shores
9.58 inches at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
8.49 inches at the City of Sunrise Fire Station
6.76 inches at Everglades City
5.89 inches on Marco Island
If we look at what has fallen since Monday morning, there are a few totals closing in on 18 inches:
16.04 inches at Kirby Storter Park on the Big Cypress National Preserve
15.71 inches in North Miami
15.47 inches along Alligator Alley in rural Collier County
15.37 inches in Miami Shores
15.08 inches at Dania Beach
14.54 inches in Everglades City
14.41 inches in Coconut Creek
13.01 inches at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
12.59 inches in Coral Springs
11.56 inches in Fort Lauderdale
10.76 inches in Weston
Did the rain break records?
A number of records were set across the area. Wednesday’s 9.54 inches nabs the top spot for the wettest summer day on record, surpassing the 8.6 inches that fell on June 2, 1930. It’s the eighth wettest day at the airport of all time.
A typical June averages 9.55 inches of rain, meaning an entire month’s worth of rain came down in one day.
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Between 1 and 2 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, 2.41 inches of rain fell. That’s the seventh wettest hour on record at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Hourly weather observations date back to 1973, but seven of the wettest hours on record have occurred in the past 10 years, and all have occurred since 2003.
One station in Hollywood, Fla., logged 10.22 inches of rain in six hours, which statistically falls just shy of a 100-year rain event, or an event that has a 1 percent chance of happening in a given location any given year. Sunny Isles Beach got 6.47 inches in 3 hours, which occurs on average once every 25 years.
The climate connection
It’s well established that the frequency, and intensity, of rainfall events is increasing in tandem with our warming atmosphere. A warmer world is a wetter world, since warmer air has a greater propensity to hold water. For every degree of increase in heat in the atmosphere, it can hold 4 percent more moisture.
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That’s why extremes like this are becoming more common, and rainfall rates are getting heavier too. Moreover, a more saturated atmosphere during high-end events increases precipitation efficiency; in other words, more of the raindrops survive to the ground without evaporating, leading to more rapid accumulations.
What’s next?
Weather models depict continued shower and thunderstorm activity across South Florida on Thursday afternoon and evening, with the chance that another 3 to 6 inches falls. Localized greater totals can't be ruled out.
The rainfall won’t extend much north of a line from Punta Gorda to the Space Coast, though a renegade afternoon shower or thunderstorm is possible.
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[1] Url:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/06/13/florida-flooding-rainfall-totals-storm-forecast/
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