© palmbeachpost.comView from the Jupiter Inlet looking north up the Intracoastal waterway.
The NWS issued a special marine statement at 9:30 a.m. warning mariners of storms packing wind gusts up to 37 mph and intense lightning.
Forecasters also noted that waterspouts are possible with the storm. I guess they were right about that one.
It could be another rollicking afternoon in Palm Beach County as thunderstorms similar to Thursday's are expected to make a repeat performance.
A trough of low pressure that's been stalled over Central Florida the past few days is still sticking around, triggering strong storms as it meets up with South Florida's sea breeze.
Yesterday's storms produced a waterspout over Lake Okeechobee and dumped as much as 4 inches of rain in small areas of Lake Worth and its suburbs. At one point, more than 12,000 people were without electricity in Palm Beach County.
The waters surrounding Florida provide warmth and moisture for growing clouds that can spawn waterspouts. Often, the clouds that form them are not thunderstorms. In fact, it doesn't have to be raining for a waterspout to develop, and they can occur while skies are partly sunny, Barry Baxter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said in a July story in The Palm Beach Post.
Waterspouts are caused by a convergence of very light winds — a land breeze and an ocean breeze, 5 knots or less from each direction,
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter