Fay making its third landfall in Florida

[phantom power]

Tropical Storm Fay is finally on the move. Radar loops out of Melbourne, Florida and satellite loops show that Fay has finally begun to move to the west-northwest, and is making landfall just north of Daytona Beach, Florida. The organization and appearance of Fay on radar and satellite imagery has changed little this morning, but there is time for the storm to intensify slightly before the eye fully moves ashore, since wind shear is a modest 10 knots. Fay is the first storm since Donna of 1960 to make three landfalls in Florida. Fay has hit Key West, Marco Island, and now just north of Daytona Beach. Fay is the first tropical storm I could find in the record that hit the west coast of Florida, crossed the peninsula, then turned around and hit the east coast of Florida. However, Gordon of 1994 did the feat as a tropical depression. (I remember Gordon well, as I was trying to take a camping vacation in Florida that week, and kept on having to drive to the opposite coast of the state to escape Gordon's flooding rains!)

Fay has been dumping truly prodigious amounts of rain on Florida, with radar-estimated rainfall amounts near 20 inches in the Melbourne, Florida region. Rainfall should gradually diminish today as the storm moves inland and weakens, assuming this Joker will truly weaken once it gets over land. I expect that this time it will weaken, since the storm will not be traversing over Lake Okeechobee. The waters of Lake Okeechobee were a scalding 91.8°F when Fay crossed over it Tuesday, according to MODIS satellite estimates. Check out the CIMMS satellite blog for more detail on this event, including an awesome rapid-scan satellite loop.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1035&tstamp=200808

http://radblast-mi.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/radar/WUNIDS_map?station=MLB&brand=wui&num=1&delay=15&type=NTP&frame=0&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&t=1219329061&lat=0&lon=0&label=you&showstorms=0&map.x=400&map.y=240¢erx=400¢ery=240&transx=0&transy=0&showlabels=1&severe=0&rainsnow=0&lightning=0&smooth=0

[ben_meyers]

1. Only the 4th time in recorded history, last time 1960

What is going on with our weather lately?

If Fay strikes Florida again as expected, it would be just the fourth storm in recorded history to hit the peninsula with tropical storm intensity three separate times. The most recent was Hurricane Donna in 1960, said Daniel Brown, hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080821/D92MQH380.html

[SheilaT]

2. Someone needs to write a kids' book.

"The Little Hurricane That Could"

"Fay, the Fearless Hurricane"

"Timmy Survives Hurricane Fay Three Times"

The possibilities seem endless.

[madrchsod]

3. mother earth is cleansing her wounds