Convective Florida by Elizabeth Saary
Thunderstorms raged their way across western and central parts of Florida on Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service (NSW) said that the radar had indicated that rainfall rates were as much as three inches (76mm) per hour.
In the city of Tampa 211mm (8.3 inches) of rain fell in just 18 hours. The average rainfall for Tampa in the whole month of February is 69mm (2.9 inches), making this some 142mm above that. Outside the city, in the Pinellas Park area, an astonishing 330mm (13 inches) of rainfall was reported to have fallen through yesterday.
The vast amounts of rain caused flooding, closing many roads as well as causing structural damage to some houses with their roofs collapsing under the weight of water that had collected on them.
Deep convection can spark the formation of tornados, therefore the NWS issued warnings for the state yesterday, however there were no reported sightings of such weather events taking place.
It is set to become cooler and much more settled across Florida over the coming week with some pleasant sunshine.
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