Heavy rain, gusty storms to strike Florida through Thursday

By Brian Lada, Meteorologist

January 26,2016; 9:48PM,EST

 

 

A wet and stormy weather pattern setting up over Florida for Wednesday and Thursday will bring the threat of severe weather and flooding downpours.
Over an inch of rain is forecast to fall in cities, such as Orlando, Miami and Tampa, from Wednesday through Thursday as tropical moisture surges across the state. Some cities may even get as much as 3 inches of rain by the time the rain ends on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, cities farther north in Florida, such as Jacksonville and Tallahassee, will receive some rain, but it is not expected to be nearly as heavy as it is farther south.

The heavy, persistent rain will raise flooding concerns across Florida on Wednesday and Thursday with central and southern Florida being at the greatest risk of flooding.
"Conditions will be conducive for locally heavy rain, causing temporary flooding, especially in areas of poor drainage," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Ken Clark said.
Some roads that sit in poor drainage areas may become bogged down with water which could make them impassible until the rain subsides.
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Not only will the surge of tropical moisture produce heavy rain across the state, but also thunderstorms that may spark severe weather.
According to Clark, this will not be a widespread severe weather outbreak, but the strongest storms may produce damaging wind gusts and possibly even some isolated tornadoes.

Sporadic power outages and property damage will be possible as the strong storms move through. If you are outside and hear thunder from an approaching storm, you should seek shelter immediately.
This week's severe weather threat will encompass the same parts of Florida that were hit by severe storms earlier in the month, which left behind damage to buildings and caused two fatalities.
The wet, stormy weather is expected to come to diminish before the end of the week as a cold front sweeps across the state, clearing Florida of rain and thunderstorms by Friday.
Friday will mark the beginning of a new, drier weather pattern for Florida with rain-free weather lasting through the weekend and into the start of next week.