10″+ of Rain Possible in Florida From Eta
An abundant amount of rainfall remains likely across regions of the Sunshine State, stemming from the tropical cyclone known as “Eta.”
Even though Florida has not experienced a landfall from Eta yet, there is so much tropical moisture in place that the southern part of the state finds itself right in the middle of downpours. While tropical moisture remains in place, there is also a strong high pressure system to the north. Because of this weather pattern, a stark east wind exists across the Sunshine State. This will continue to bring windy conditions to Florida’s east coast, along with cloudier weather conditions and passing downpours.
As the first full weekend of November begins, the strong east wind and tropical moisture will remain in place across the state. Thus, the result will be additional downpours and occasional nuisance flooding. The flooding on Saturday, as of this forecast, appears to be on the minor side, localized instead of widespread, and shorter-term rather than longer-lasting. However the deeper into the weekend we get, the more likely flooding will become and possibly the more widespread too. Areas to watch will be Jupiter to West Palm Beach, to Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and all of the Florida Keys.
Eta will continue its irregular tropical path this weekend as it gets pulled up to the northeast from an incoming area of low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico. This should continue to offload more moisture across Florida this weekend and the rain tallies should continue to climb. More of the state will begin to see rain this weekend, whereas right now the rain is more concentrated across the southern part of the state. While this will be a multi-day event, the total rainfall will be quite impressive. A foot of rain is not out of the question for parts of Florida.
The National Weather Service in Miami says the “reasonable worst case scenario” basically a 10% chance of occurring, is 10″ or more of rainfall in parts of southeast Florida, including the West Palm and Miami areas. The most likely scenario puts between 5 and 7 inches of rain across parts of southeast Florida.
As a result of the heavy rainfall forecast, a flood watch has been issued for southeast Florida through Tuesday. Be mindful of flooded areas and avoid them!
Continue to stay with us here at WeatherNation as we bring you the latest forecast, alerts, and information regarding Eta’s impacts.