Friday, June 10, 2011

Wrong Forecast (I hope)

We are in desperate need of rain. South Florida is in the middle of an extreme drought and a huge fire has consumed thousands of acres in Central Miami Dade. A good soaking would be just what the doctor ordered... yet it may not happen.

There is plenty of rain over Cuba and the Bahamas but it is running into a series of road blocks.
  • First: A huge high pressure system has been sitting over the southeast for weeks , keeping the region hot and steamy. It's also blocking all the rain to our southeast and keeping us under a strong and steady easterly breeze.
This is very typical of a La Nina year. La Nina, as you know, is a cooling of the Equatorial waters of the Pacific Ocean. It impacts ocean and wind currents all over the world. NWS says La Nina just ended, but the "High" remains parked, keeping us dry.
  • Second: Strong upper level winds moving West to East across Florida are also acting as a huge impasse for the rain .

Unless the rain can by-pass these detours, we may not see any rain this weekend. It's too bad, our plants needed it, our lakes, our water supply..... everything needs it.

No weather person wants to be wrong ( heaven knows we have our share of blown forecasts) , but this time I hope to be completely, not even near the ballpark, kind of wrong. Rain, please, come on down!


2 comments:

  1. My neighborhood looks like someone took a blowtorch to all of the grass.

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  2. I know how you feel... it could be a loooong time before we see any rain here.
    To make things worse, another upper low is being detected over the Bahamas that will take just about all the moisture away from us.

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