Taylor Creek, Florida Developing Strong Lightning Storm

Thursday May 28, 2009, continued to be extremely busy with afternoon lightning storms over southern Florida. I was closely watching this developing strong thunderstorm that was forming along a gust front boundary and the east coast sea breeze. It developed several weak non-rotating wall clouds that kept getting undercut by moderate outflow winds from the southwest. The storm continued east into St Lucie County where it became a vivid lightning producer with small hail. It made for some interesting storm structure for a short-time.

People Hit Ft Lauderdale Beaches Before Afternoon Storms

I was out shooting video for The Weather Channel on Tuesday morning May 26, 2009, of beach goers trying to get in some sun and beach in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. This time of year as the wet season begins, the best time to hit the beach is before the afternoon lightning storms move in from the west. A few offshore morning convective showers over the Gulf stream were the only clouds in sight. Later in the afternoon, several severe thunderstorms moved in over metro Southeast, FL.

Severe Thunderstorm Video Over Lake Okeechobee Florida

May 26, 2009 / 5:30pm ET – The east and west coast sea breeze boundaries converged over the western shores of Lake Okeechobee, helping to produce a line of severe thunderstorms. This line of storms tracked eastward over the lake, producing some impressive storm structure. Shelf clouds, strong straight-line winds, and heavy rains were the main weather associated with these strong storms.

Memorial Day Weekend ‘09 On The Grill Between The Storms

Despite the numerous showers and thunderstorms this Memorial Day Weekend here in South Florida, we were able to squeeze in some delicious grilling. Kersten and I worked on making some homemade Shish Kabob’s for the grill, along with some Ballpark hotdogs. Throw in some Macaroni Salad, and then some Boston Cream Pie for dessert, and it made for a excellent kickoff to summer 2009.

Boca Raton Florida Heavy Rains – TWC Video Package

Thursday was yet another active day, especially in the morning across Southeastern Palm Beach County and Northeast Broward County rain-wise. I was on the road early shooting rain video for TWC, and by 8:30am, I was shooting heavy thunderstorm rains from Pompano Beach to Lighthouse Point northward to Boca Raton, Florida. Several inches of rain fell and some isolated locations picked up 3-4 inches, like in eastern Boca Raton along the I-95 corridor. I filmed flooded roads along Glade Rd and Powerline Rd east to I-95. Also some locations along A1A in Lighthouse Point. The following video segment above is currently airing on The Weather Channel as of 5/21 – 5/22/2009.

Non-Tropical Low Brings Welcome Heavy Rains To Florida

The combination of a upper-level low centered over all of Florida, and a weak surface non-tropical low off the southwest Florida coast, has continued to bring heavy rains and gusty winds. On Tuesday I was out shooting video, as seen in the above video (also airing on The Weather Channel today), heavy rains fell across Southern Florida once again. Training showers and storms moved over the Okeechobee City region and Lake Okeechobee, where it has been extremely dry all Spring.

Further north into Central and North Florida, where the pressure gradient is much tighter, they experienced 40-50mph winds at east coast beaches with continuous rains moving inland in the deep flow. This whole slow moving system is expected to continue to bring drought relief rains and rough beach conditions at least into late Thursday.

Florida Sea Breeze Thunderstorm Convection Time Lapse

Looking at the calendar and knowing how bad I want to be out in the Great Plains storm chasing the severe storm season, I had to settle for some Florida sea breeze boundary thunderstorms instead. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Florida storms and am happy the wet season is trying it’s best to crank up finally after severe drought conditions. It just would be nice to be chasing “rotating convection” that sustains itself for longer than 30 minutes. A nice honking Supercell thunderstorm out on the rolling Plains would make a great day.

The east coast sea breeze boundary quickly rush inland today as the easterlies became much deeper. The boundary converged with the Lake Okeechobee breeze boundary. This set off moderate convection and several thunderstorms developed. Lightning associated with these storms started several new wildfires in Martin County, FL. I spent about 2 hours shooting the frames for the time lapse. At one point, a weak wall cloud developed out over Lake Okeechobee as a outflow boundary intercepted the storm out over the water. It was unfortunately short-lived. This was the 4th day in a row we have received measurable rainfall and that there has been a active sea breeze boundary with thunderstorms. It’s a nice change. More on the way this weekend.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch Video – Hubble Mission 2009

I attended the 2:01pm ET launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on May 11, 2009 . I was located just south of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida along the Banana River causeway bridge. This is the Shuttle mission to the Hubble Telescope to upgrade and repair. This was my view from the south, along with beautiful east coast sea breeze thunderstorms on the drive back home. Enjoy the video stream.

Pompano Beach Florida Water Spout Pictures

It was one of those lucky days where you just happen to come across a water spout when you not even in chase mode. Early this morning Kersten and I headed south from Lake Okeechobee to Broward County. I had a lab appointment for UM in Pompano Beach, Florida at 8am, and I was all wrapped up by 8:30am.

We decided to head south and east to make a surprise visit at my aunt’s house since she lives about 10 minutes away. On our way we’re driving south on Powerline Rd and under this very small convergence boundary that extended northwest to southeast towards Pompano Beach. I noted to Kersten that if this built a little more easterly out over the ocean we just might see a distant water spout. 10 minutes later deep in morning South Florida traffic, I glance over to my left only to see a translucent funnel cloud extended halfway towards the water. I luckily brought my camera and something told me that morning just to bring it along. I quickly grabbed it and began to shoot as I’m telling Kersten to drive east towards the beach.

There was no going anywhere fast as traffic was slow and still nearing the end of rush hour. As Chris Collura would say, a fellow Chaser friend, “ Great! Look at all those brake lights”. So I continued to take pictures between buildings, power poles, tree’s and anything else that just seemed to want to get in my way. We finally we reach the Pier at Pompano Beach only to see that convergence boundary had weakened significantly and the spout dissipated. I did asked the local lifeguard if the water spout was at the surface and he did say there was a circulation at the ocean surface with mist. Cool!

It was a nice treat for us during this long, and I mean long drought here in South Florida. It was nice to see a little convection and something rotating finally, because there has been little action in Florida since early last Fall. We made our stops, had lunch and then headed home. A interesting morning indeed, and I’m sure glad I had the urge to grab my cam before leaving the house. LOL!

Related Post Video: Lake Okeechobee Waterspout and Gustnadoes Video - As seen on The Weather Channel 6/23 – 6/24/2009
Captured Waterspout Sanibel Island Florida Pictures - 10/11/09