Florida's Deluge by the Numbers: 11.9 Inches in West Melbourne, Schools Closed in Brevard, and 8 to 13 Inches in Palm Beach Gardens
A stalled upper-level system parked over the peninsula dropped near a foot of rain on parts of the Space Coast and double-digit totals in Palm Beach Gardens - and forecasters say the heaviest rain winds down by the end of Monday.
Florida's November opened underwater. Almost a foot of rain fell in the last 24 hours in one area of Brevard County, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne, and radar showed a wide swath of intense rain across central Florida from coast to coast on Monday, Florida Today reported. Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey encouraged residents to stay home unless travel was necessary because of flooded roads, and the Brevard County school district closed all of its schools for the day on Monday, Nov. 2, due to flooding, with flood watches, warnings and advisories posted for several counties.
The unofficial 24-hour totals from Weather Service offices around the state show how uneven the deluge was: 11.9 inches in West Melbourne and 7.5 to 9 inches across Melbourne and Palm Bay; 8 to 13 inches in Palm Beach Gardens, especially along the Turnpike in the Belvedere area, against 4.28 inches at Palm Beach's airport a few miles south; 6 to 8 inches indicated by radar in the Glades and Hendry counties and parts of the interior southwest; 3 to 4 inches on the Treasure Coast; 1.57 inches in Miami, with 3 to 5 inches in Pinecrest and Coral Gables; and just 0.4 inches in Jacksonville. The cause, AccuWeather meteorologist Nicolas Arman said, was an area of upper-level energy that drifted south over Florida and remained stationary for 24 to 30 hours, fed by a steady stream of rich tropical moisture on easterly flow around a strong area of high pressure near Bermuda - a pattern he described as typical of El Nino.
The turn comes quickly. The heaviest rain is likely to wind down by the end of Monday as the energy shifts eastward away from Florida, Arman said, although tropical moisture remains in place with scattered showers and thunderstorms through midweek; a front moving in Thursday and Friday should bring much drier weather by the weekend. Beyond that, a strong cold front crosses the western Panhandle on Nov. 4 and could reach east central Florida by Nov. 6, with temperatures falling below normal after another front around Nov. 10, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne. For Palm Beach County, Monday's rain bands are the tail of the event - Election Day still looks showery, but the deluge itself is ending.
