Get Ready for the RAIN!

I used to live in a much more gentle climate.  A small shower that is ignored here would have had the TV and Radio stations in Philadelphia talking about heading for high ground.  I got used to having a weather radio around, and left it on there for a while until I realized that it was very rare that the thing would set off an alarm that you needed to be worried about.  Philadelphia didn't get tornadoes often.  Hurricanes were something that you worry about in the South.  When we'd get snow, there was plenty of warning, everyone seemed to know it was coming and you'd hear from the neighbors.  We even joked that it was similar to a Japanese Monster Movie - LOOK!  It's a LIZARD!  IT'S A LIZARD!!! Run for High Ground!!!

At some point the weather radio got turned off, then put away.  The Internet gave you enough warning and if you would spot something coming, it was three days away in Chicago and it was another front marching eastward.

Fast-forward to today and South Florida.  When the weather here is nice, it is like being in a land of Technicolor.  When Dorothy Gayle opened the door of her Kansas Farmhouse in the Munchkin City, she didn't have quite as much color as we can here in Wilton Manors and South Florida.  The Skies can be a riot of Cerulean Blue and brilliant Magnesium White clouds that the Simpsons can only hope to imitate.  The Palm Trees are swaying in the breeze off the ocean like so many feather dusters stuck in beach sand.  Not to be undone, the flowers on the hibiscus tree in the back yard are shining a brilliant red that a 1940s Pin Up Girl would strive towards and they're not rationing here.

If you watch radar here you notice that we get little storms that look like noise on the map.  I call it a "Pixel Storm" because at typical range, the storm looks like a little dot or pixel on the screen.  Is that dirt or is someone's car getting washed?  Just before I woke up, one of those pixels came through and made enough noise to notice.   This being Sunday, I rolled over, growled, and went back to sleep after comforting the dog.

At 6:15 the siren of doom happened. 

Apparently we're going to have our cars washed.  They're predicting 4 to 6 inches of Rain here for late today and tomorrow.  If that were snow, it would be on the order of 3 feet and I'd once again be digging my Jeep out for some Play Time In The Pines.

It isn't, we're in Florida. 

My landscaper was by on Friday and told me about this long before the NWS Wake Up Call.  Nothing had been said on the Weather Channel, but they don't really know that there's a micro-climate effect in Broward County that is pronounced and while they got plenty of rain in the wet season, my Jeep has Beach Sand on it from 2.5 miles away that has been drawn up by the wind from the thunderstorms in Plantation that don't quite make it up this far, and my grass is having some stress.  I guess my Sea Grape tree won't get trimmed.

The National Weather Service Office in Miami or the Weather Channel never asked me.

So "Duck and Cover" and watch out for Godzilla, it's going to be wet for a few days.  You'll see my Jeep rolled out from under the Carport, it needs a bath.  Mrs Dog will hate it and I'll be rooting for my pool to have overfilled.

For your information, here is the warning text I got from The National Weather Service this Morning:



...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL OF SOUTH FLORIDA.

* TODAY THROUGH LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON

* AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONTINUES TO INCREASE ACROSS THE REGION...THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY THROUGH AT LEAST MONDAY. THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BEGIN THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO MONDAY EVENING. TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAINFALL ACCUMULATION ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA TODAY...MAINLY EXPECTED ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN PORTION OF THE PENINSULA. IN ISOLATED AREAS EVEN HIGHER RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE. ON MONDAY...NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE AGAIN EXPECTED...WITH TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS IN SOME AREAS FROM TODAYS AND MONDAYS RAINFALL POSSIBLY REACHING FOUR TO SIX INCHES.

* THESE RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM TODAY AND MONDAY...OR THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO...COULD LEAD TO SOME MINOR FLOODING OF STREETS...URBAN AREAS AND LOW LYING AREAS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A FLOOD WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING BASED ON CURRENT FORECASTS.

YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE FLOOD WARNINGS. THOSE LIVING IN AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING SHOULD BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD FLOODING DEVELOP.

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