5 p.m., Wednesday, November 11… Eta, Eta, Couldn’t You Just Go Away??
Excerpted from “Weather Insider” https://fairwayestateshoa.com/weather-insider/
To catch up with our devious little friend Eta, upon crossing over Cuba on Monday, the tropical storm never regained quite enough strength to become a hurricane until it moved past the Lower Keys. The very broad center crossed over the Keys just west of Marathon, just as predicted, but most of the bad weather occured way up in Broward County, which got caught up in its spiral feeder bands that dropped more than a foot of rain in places. Most of the strongest winds also occured in those spiral bands. We only had a bit over 5 inches of rain in our station in Perrine. Half that amount occurred in just two hours, when we sat under our own spiral band.
After Eta moved off into the Gulf of Mexico late Monday, it stayed stationary for a short time and then started moving slowly northward. It regained enough strength to be declared a hurricane for a very brief time early this morning. Then, to add to the serious mischief, its projected track, over 48 hours changed radically from projected landfall in the central Florida Panhandle, to landfall just north of Tampa. As we speak Eta, is back to tropical storm status (sustained winds 39-73 mph) and is expected to make landfall tomorrow morning between Cedar Creek and Crystal River, FL.
As Eta moves northward off the Florida West Coast tonight, Miami-Dade may again be caught up in some of its spiral bands and experience heavy rain and wind gusts in periodic squalls.
If Eta acts completely as expected … DO NOT relax… What is to possibly be Tropical Storm Iota is currently forming up south of Puerto Rico !!
Stay tuned to the “Weather Insider” for the latest in tropical storm information and forecasts.
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