Rain in the South heads for Florida

[Jeb]

Red flags greeted by a wet reception

8:53 P.M. ET 3/2/2005

 

Anthony Diaz, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel

 

 

A system moving eastward through the northern Gulf of Mexico will scrape along the coast as it heads towards extremely dry areas of the Florida Peninsula. This same system that brought violent thundershowers to the Texas coast will move eastward impacting Louisiana, southern portions of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, before reaching Florida late Thursday night. Areas along the Interstate 10 corridor are in for the occasional thundershower that could carry with it short-lived gusty winds. By late Thursday, the bulk of the precipitation will reach the west Florida coast. Tampa, Fort Myers, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Orlando could get a good round of much needed precipitation. These areas are all running rainfall deficits for the year. The event will be brief as by Friday the system will have crossed the peninsula into the open waters of the Atlantic.

 

West and northwest winds continue to blow off the lakes late into Wednesday enhancing snow totals on the eastern shores of Lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. These areas, along with the Tug Hill Plateau in Upstate New York will see the highest totals of accumulating snow through Thursday. Across the board, wind speeds will range from 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts. Combine these winds with already below-average temperatures and winds chills will become a problem. From New England to the Ohio Valley wind chills will dip below freezing and in some areas below zero on Thursday. The big cities will finally be snow free Thursday. However, the unsettled weather will continue to phase in and out as a series of clippers are expected to move through the region in the next several days. Continued cold, gusty winds, and the threat for snow should plague the region through the early part of next week.