Super Soaker Tropical Storm Fay Lingers off Florida Coast

21 August 2008

Tropical Storm Fay is lingering just off the northern Florida coast, further punishing the waterlogged southeastern U.S. state with more torrential rains.

Fay has already caused widespread flooding in St. Lucie and Brevard Counties in central Florida, deluging hundreds of homes, leaving thousands without power and prompting rescues.

Forecasters say Fay is off the Atlantic coast this Thursday morning, about 30 kilometers east of Daytona Beach.

The National Hurricane Center says the storm is barely moving, but predicts Fay will slowly move west-northwest later Thursday.

The storm is expected to cross back into Florida Thursday and reach the state's panhandle near the Gulf of Mexico by early Saturday.

Forecasters say the storm has maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour and could dump 76 centimeters of rain in some areas as it moves across northern Florida.

A tropical storm warning remains in effect for northern parts of Florida and the neighboring U.S. state of Georgia. Forecasters warn that Fay may produce isolated tornadoes.

Fay hasn't moved much in the overnight hours of Aug. 20-21. The center of Tropical Storm Fay continues to linger off the coast of central Florida, over the warm Gulf Stream waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

At 8:00 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, Fay was still barely moving and raining heavily on east central Florida. Her center was near 29.2 degrees north latitude and 80.7 degrees west longitude, or 20 miles east of Daytona Beach, Florida. Melbourne, Florida has received the greatest amount of rain so far.

Eventually, Fay will move west-northwest, likely late today. By Saturday, she's expected to be near the Florida Panhandle. She's still a tropical storm, with sustained winds near 60 mph. Her minimum central pressure is 994 millibars.

Rainfall totals from Aug 19 and 20 are in, although being verified. Here's a look at some cities in east-central Florida: The National Weather Service station at Daytona recorded 4.47 inches of rain from Fay on Aug. 20, and .49 inches on the 19, totaling 4.98 inches in two days. Further west, Orlando received .82 inch and 1.92 inches totaling 2.74 inches. South of Daytona, Melbourne recorded 7.97 inches of rain on the 20th and 5.91 on the 19th, totaling 13.88 inches. Vero Beach reported 3.61 inches on Aug. 20, and 6.33 on Aug. 19, giving a 2 day total from Fay at 9.94 inches of rain.

Fay is expected to produce rainfall accumulations over the next 36 hours of 5 to 10 inches across the northern portion of the Florida Peninsula...with isolated amounts of 15 inches. Rainfall accumulations of 3 to 6 inches are also likely over southeastern Georgia during the same period. Isolated storm total accumulations of near 30 inches can be expected in Florida. Isolated tornadoes are possible today over portions of northeastern Florida and southeastern Georgia.

These visible and infrared images of Fay were created by data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. They were created on August 20 at 18:35 UTC (2:35 a.m. EDT).
The AIRS images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures (in purple) are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top of Tropical Storm Fay. The AIRS data creates an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds, all of which are helpful to forecasters.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the surface of the ocean waters, revealing warmer temperatures in orange and red.