Earlier this week, a welcome cold front passed through southwest Florida. Daytime highs and nighttime lows tumbled a bit, while dew points (the measure of atmospheric humidity) fell into the comfortable 60’s. As with most of our early cooler season fronts, the relief from oppressive humidity readings was short-lived. Early
Read DetailsThe other day, I used the word “serpentine” to describe Eta’s past and expected movements. Eta has not disappointed. First, the storm moved westward, then headed northward along the Central American coast; and then northeastward toward the Central part of Cuba (where it resided earlier this Sunday morning). The storm
Read DetailsTropical Depression Eta (Fig. 1) is almost back to tropical storm strength; the latest 3 a.m. CST advisory (Friday) places peak sustained winds at 35 miles per hour. As Eta, currently moving slowly northward, starts moving northeastward during the next few hours, the storm will traverse warm ocean waters and
Read DetailsWith weak upper-level steering currents, past major Hurricane Eta is now just tropical depression Eta. The system land-falled in central America where mountainous terrain and the loss of warm ocean waters (its fuel supply) sent the storm into rapid decline. Now Eta is expected to move back over the western
Read DetailsAs noted the other day (https://bit.ly/3bBsdaX), the southwest Florida summer monsoonal rainfall regime has kicked in. Local rainfall amounts for the week so far have totaled two to four inches, with some locations receiving more. Localized flooding was reported in Marco Island on Sept. 9, 2020 (https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2020/09/09/heavy-rain-floods-marco-island-roads/). Now, newly-formed Tropical
Read DetailsThe weather pattern the past two days (Sunday, September 6 and Monday, September 7, 2020) is finally heralding the arrival of our tried and true summer rainfall regime. Up to this point, the pattern has experienced numerous fits and starts, but never really became entrenched. As a result, rainfall for
Read DetailsAnother in a series of strong cold fronts is heading for south Florida today. This time, the front is linked to a long-lived Pacific weather system (which brought flooding and mudslides to California, and heavy snow and flooding to parts of Texas, both earlier this week). Now the system is
Read DetailsWhile ex-hurricane Franklin dissipated quickly over Mexico yesterday, a much weaker tropical system began affecting Florida (Fig. 1). On Wednesday, the system was located over the Bahamas and all its storminess remained well east of Florida. In fact, thanks to the dynamics of these “tropical waves,” places west of the
Read DetailsMost will agree that Naples (located in southwest Florida, just south the Fort Myers area, for some of my readers who might not be familiar with where I live) is a cloud watchers paradise, especially during the warmer and wetter months. The daily cycle of morning thunderstorms over the Gulf
Read DetailsRainfall for June (now almost only half over) is already at rarified levels. Many locations across southwest Florida have logged 15 to 20 inch values. And more rainfall is anticipated. In fact, for the Naples area (my home base), the official National Weather Service (NWS) forecast is calling for 50
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