"No Precedent" - 24" Of Rain In Less Than 24 Hours In Ft. Lauderdale; Airport, Schools Close

[hatrack]

Last edited Thu Apr 13, 2023, 08:45 AM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Record-breaking rain pounded Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and nearby areas Wednesday, triggering a flash flood warning, stranding cars and closing the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport. Rain had largely subsided by midnight, and a flash flood emergency was replaced with a lesser flood warning that was due to last until at least 8 a.m., the National Weather Service’s office in Miami said. It repeated warnings for residents to get off the road and seek higher ground. The affected parts of the state are home to more than a quarter-million people. “This is a life threatening situation,” it said on Twitter.

EDIT

Rainfall increased in intensity during the evening hours, with rainfall rates in excess of 3 to 4 inches per hour at times. Data from Weather Underground, which crowdsources weather data, indicated a number of totals eclipsing two feet near Fort Lauderdale International Airport. As of 11 p.m. Eastern time, area totals ranged from just under 20 inches to a whopping 25.46 in the Shady Banks part of Fort Lauderdale. Farther to the south, Miami proper saw a general 3 to 5 inches of rain — still significant, but barely a quarter of what fell just half an hour’s drive to the north.

Fort Lauderdale averages 3.02 inches of rain during the entire month of April, meaning the airport probably received the equivalent of seven Aprils’ worth of rain in a single day. Wednesday’s total could nearly double the previous record daily rainfall; the previous airport record was 14.59 inches on April 25, 1979. It’s possible that Fort Lauderdale also received more rainfall in a single calendar day than the former wettest month of April on record. A monthly total of 19.47 inches fell during April 1979.

There is no precedent for anywhere close to as much rainfall falling. Only six days in Fort Lauderdale history have logged double-digit rain totals. Records at the airport date to World War II. A rainfall event of this magnitude in Fort Lauderdale has just a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in any year — or was a 1-in-1,000-year rainstorm.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/04/12/fort-lauderdale-flooding-florida-weather/

[BootinUp]

1. would you like some air with your water. nt

[tanyev]

2. How long will they keep calling them 1 in 1,000 year events if they start happening every few years?