Tropical Low to Bring Heavy Rain, Wind

October 17, 2011

FLORIDA TODAY (MELBOURNE, FL) - A system brewing near Mexico might become a tropical storm, bringing heavy rain, gusty winds to Florida by tonight.

This low-pressure system has a 60 percent of developing into a tropical depression or tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center reported this morning.

Barely a week after the unnamed Columbus Day weekend storm socked the Space Coast with torrential rainfall, a brewing tropical cyclone near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula could bring 3 inches of precipitation to some neighborhoods Tuesday and Wednesday.

This low-pressure system has a 60 percent of developing into a tropical depression or tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center reported this morning.

The storm might track northeast, producing potentially severe storms with heavy rain and gusty winds across Florida from late tonight through Tuesday night.

“Given the 10 to 15 inches we just had, an additional 1 to 2 inches could cause some problems,” said Scott Spratt, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

“Some of the drainage ditches are at capacity. And many of the retention ponds, and even some of the bigger lakes in Central Florida, remain at capacity,” Spratt said.

Moreover, he said a cold front likely will sweep across the area Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, spawning strong to severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes.

A tropical depression packs maximum sustained surface winds of 38 mph or slower. At the 39 mph mark, the system becomes a tropical storm.

“Regardless of what the system does in the Gulf of Mexico, we’re going to have deeper moisture moving over us,” he said.

From Oct. 7 to 10, the unnamed storm dumped 14.82 inches of rain in Northeast Palm Bay in Brevard County. Nearby Kennedy Space Center got got 13.14 inches.