[AriaGrandparents2013]

At this moment....7:15AM.........raining pretty steady in Village of Ferandina.

[NECHFalcon68]

POURING here in Buttonwood at 735AM

[Madelaine Amee]

Torrential rain right now (7:44am) at Glenview with very strong winds.

[gocubsgo]

Heavy rains in Silver lake...the park across the street is starting to flood and will become an actual lake by tonight!

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by AriaGrandparents2013

At this moment....7:15AM.........raining pretty steady in Village of Ferandina.

thanks my lawn needs it

[senior citizen]

Originally Posted by gamby

just waiting for the (Tornado's) tomorrow;

Since the first of the month we had/have Hurricane (Depression) Huge Sink hole, flooding, and like I said Just waiting for the Tornado's.

Have to ask myself "Is sunny Florida worth all this " ?

The weather pattern lately does seem to have been a lot of rain.....
But then again, so have we in the northeast had more than our share of rain in two normally pretty months....May and June....

I just checked the weather and Andrea seems to have impacted Fort Myers area on the Gulf Coast (we have inlaws there) and a small tornado in
Florida.....

Keep scrolling all the way down please..............

Weather news as of two hours ago..........

The Weather Channel
The latest forecast path and wind speeds from the National Hurricane Center, with the projected path of Tropical Storm Andrea.


By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News
Tropical Storm Andrea - the first of the Atlantic hurricane season - spawned a tornado in Florida early Thursday and threatened high winds, heavy rain and rough seas along much of the U.S. East Coast in the coming days.
The storm was bearing down on the Tampa area early Thursday.
A storm surge was expected to produce flooding in low-lying areas from Fort Myers, Fla., in the south to Apalachicola, on the southern tip of the Florida Panhandle, in the north, Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer said.
More from weather.com
The National Weather Service issued tropical storm warnings for a long strip of the East Coast, from north-central Florida to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Heavily populated cities lie in the warning area: the Tampa Bay area and Jacksonville in Florida; Charleston and tourist-packed Myrtle Beach in South Carolina; Wilmington and the heavily-visited Outer Banks in North Carolina; and Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News, Va.


By Friday, the storm was expected to affect major inland cities, including Washington and Philadelphia, bringing heavy rains that could produce flooding, the weather service said, adding that Andrea should have diminished to rain and wind gusts by the time it approached New York late Friday or Saturday.
Most of central and southern Florida was under a tornado watch as the storm approached with its 50-60 mph wind gusts churning up 10- to 14-foot seas, the weather service said. Seas up to 16 feet were expected further north.
A tornado was confirmed on the ground in Myakka City, Fla., south of Tampa, early Thursday, the weather service said, adding that power lines were down and a small building was in a road.
Further inland, heavy rains ahead of the storm brought flood watches for Thursday and Friday across virtually all of South Carolina as well as west-central North Carolina and much of Georgia. The Florida Panhandle, southeastern Alabama and far southern Georgia were at risk as early as Wednesday evening.






Related:

• Andrea lifts the curtain on Atlantic hurricane season
• Storms, flash floods, twister danger in Plains
• More weather coverage from NBC News

17commentsExplore related topics: weather, rain, east-coast, floods, tropical-storm, tornado, andrea, featured


.

[Happinow]

At 9:00am it pretty windy here in the village of Sanibel. The rain has tapered off but according to the forecast another band will be pushing through. It's really not a big deal. They've been getting worse rain/storms than this where I use to live. The only thing that is scary is when we get those lightening storms. I could do without those. Wouldn't move back home for anything!

[Taltarzac725]

Dog will not go out more than a few feet and 10 hours is a long time to hold it inside. Steady rain with occasionally bursts of wind in Lynnhaven--1 mile south of Southern Trace Shopping Center.

[senior citizen]

Tropical Storm Andrea has formed in the Gulf of Mexico, becoming the season's first named storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Andrea is expected to whack Florida's Panhandle late Thursday, bringing with it a torrent of rain across Central Florida — a reminder to residents it's that time of year.

Hurricane forecasters issued advisories Wednesday evening showing Andrea's center is expected to move quickly across the state in a northeasterly path, bypassing most of Central Florida.

• Related
• Video: What we can expect from Tropical Storm Andrea on Friday
• Map tracking tropical storm Andrea
• Weather Radar and links
• Photos
• Hurricane names of 2013
• Pictures: Florida's Worst Natural Disasters
• Photos: Tips on getting ready for a hurricane
• See more photos »
  • X
    Pictures: Loopy storms: Some crazy tracks of past 25 years
    
    Still, the area can expect up to 8 inches of rain — with the possibility of isolated tornadoes — by the time the storm is expected to clear the state Friday.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a flood watch for Central Florida after forecast models showed that intense downpours — of 3 to 6 inches — are expected.
Central Florida emergency managers say they are anticipating a lot of water — but no deluge — and the storm presents an opportunity for people to brush up on their preparedness plans for hurricane season.

All week, a continuous convergence of clouds over the region has dampened but not saturated the ground, limiting the degree of the flooding in low-lying areas and near local lakes, forecasters said.

"This isn't going to be a Tropical Storm Debby where it lingers for an extended period of time," said Lake County disaster-assistance specialist Spencer Kostus. "We are expecting it to move through the Panhandle and be out to the East in a rather rapid period of time."

Nevertheless officials in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties are getting ahead of the rainfall.
Orlando officials say city workers routinely monitor the levels of Orlando's many lakes, particularly those around downtown that are landlocked and not connected to a larger drainage basin that could more easily handle heavy rains.

Though some lakes in the city have outfalls that connect them to other nearby lakes, others have drainage wells that essentially act as overflow drains. The city can lower the level of lakes by allowing water to flow into deep wells, discharging water into the upper Floridan Aquifer.

"If we lower the lakes ahead of time, we have storage available if we get a lot of rain for that water level to come up without causing any problems," City Engineer Jim Hunt said.

Orlando is lowering levels at several lakes, including Lake Eola, Lake Cherokee, Lake Davis and Lake Greenwood. But adjusting lake levels isn't out of the ordinary.

"We keep an eye on the weather, and if we have a heavy tropical wave or a hurricane bearing down on us, then we try to lower the risk," Hunt said.

Orange County's Keith Kotch said officials are watching Lake Mary Jane and Lake Hart in the southeast corner of the county closely to draw water levels down if they get close to breaching their banks.

But officials with the St. Johns and South Florida water-management districts said reservoir levels are low enough to contain the predicted influx of rainwater runoff during the storm.

In Osceola County, "we don't expect any circumstances other than nuisance flooding where the water will be standing on the roadways and create ponds," said Operations Manager Richard Halquist.

Seminole County's Alan Harris said Wednesday that crews were removing debris from storm drains and culverts to minimize urban flooding and ponding, while mosquito-control crews have ramped up their work.
Emergency managers caution that residents have to do their part before more rain starts falling.

"It's that time of year," Kotch said. "If we get struck by something that would disrupt normal services, its important people have enough supplies for at least three to five days to take care of themselves."
The National Weather Service and every Central Florida county have a severe-weather text or email-alert system residents can register for through their local-government websites. A weather radio is also an important asset to any family's emergency kit.

The periodic updates that come over radio frequencies will be crucial to homeowners in the path of rotating storms that can quickly turn into tornadoes with the coming system.

"You don't see them. They hit and go back into the cloud," Kotch said, describing the behavior of typical "rain-wrapped" Florida tornadoes. "They are short-lived, but it's enough to do damage."
Andrea will also produce frequent lightning, gusty winds and high surf at the coast. Isolated rain showers will become increasingly heavy Thursday and intensify into the evening hours. The flood watch is in effect until early Friday.

"We want to make sure everyone is ready to go," Kostus said.
arehernandez@tribune.com or 407-420-5471 or on Twitter @ahernandez_OS
Weather alerts
Be the first to know when severe weather threatens your neighborhood. Sign up for our text alerts at OrlandoSentinel.com/about/mobile


Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel

[senior citizen]

Tropical Storm Andrea has formed in the Gulf of Mexico, becoming the season's first named storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Andrea is expected to whack Florida's Panhandle late Thursday, bringing with it a torrent of rain across Central Florida — a reminder to residents it's that time of year.

Hurricane forecasters issued advisories Wednesday evening showing Andrea's center is expected to move quickly across the state in a northeasterly path, bypassing most of Central Florida.

Still, the area can expect up to 8 inches of rain — with the possibility of isolated tornadoes — by the time the storm is expected to clear the state Friday.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a flood watch for Central Florida after forecast models showed that intense downpours — of 3 to 6 inches — are expected.

Central Florida emergency managers say they are anticipating a lot of water — but no deluge — and the storm presents an opportunity for people to brush up on their preparedness plans for hurricane season.

All week, a continuous convergence of clouds over the region has dampened but not saturated the ground, limiting the degree of the flooding in low-lying areas and near local lakes, forecasters said.

"This isn't going to be a Tropical Storm Debby where it lingers for an extended period of time," said Lake County disaster-assistance specialist Spencer Kostus. "We are expecting it to move through the Panhandle and be out to the East in a rather rapid period of time."

Nevertheless officials in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties are getting ahead of the rainfall.
Orlando officials say city workers routinely monitor the levels of Orlando's many lakes, particularly those around downtown that are landlocked and not connected to a larger drainage basin that could more easily handle heavy rains.

Though some lakes in the city have outfalls that connect them to other nearby lakes, others have drainage wells that essentially act as overflow drains. The city can lower the level of lakes by allowing water to flow into deep wells, discharging water into the upper Floridan Aquifer.

"If we lower the lakes ahead of time, we have storage available if we get a lot of rain for that water level to come up without causing any problems," City Engineer Jim Hunt said.

Orlando is lowering levels at several lakes, including Lake Eola, Lake Cherokee, Lake Davis and Lake Greenwood. But adjusting lake levels isn't out of the ordinary.

"We keep an eye on the weather, and if we have a heavy tropical wave or a hurricane bearing down on us, then we try to lower the risk," Hunt said.

Orange County's Keith Kotch said officials are watching Lake Mary Jane and Lake Hart in the southeast corner of the county closely to draw water levels down if they get close to breaching their banks.

But officials with the St. Johns and South Florida water-management districts said reservoir levels are low enough to contain the predicted influx of rainwater runoff during the storm.

In Osceola County, "we don't expect any circumstances other than nuisance flooding where the water will be standing on the roadways and create ponds," said Operations Manager Richard Halquist.

Seminole County's Alan Harris said Wednesday that crews were removing debris from storm drains and culverts to minimize urban flooding and ponding, while mosquito-control crews have ramped up their work.
Emergency managers caution that residents have to do their part before more rain starts falling.

"It's that time of year," Kotch said. "If we get struck by something that would disrupt normal services, its important people have enough supplies for at least three to five days to take care of themselves."
The National Weather Service and every Central Florida county have a severe-weather text or email-alert system residents can register for through their local-government websites. A weather radio is also an important asset to any family's emergency kit.

The periodic updates that come over radio frequencies will be crucial to homeowners in the path of rotating storms that can quickly turn into tornadoes with the coming system.

"You don't see them. They hit and go back into the cloud," Kotch said, describing the behavior of typical "rain-wrapped" Florida tornadoes. "They are short-lived, but it's enough to do damage."
Andrea will also produce frequent lightning, gusty winds and high surf at the coast. Isolated rain showers will become increasingly heavy Thursday and intensify into the evening hours. The flood watch is in effect until early Friday.

"We want to make sure everyone is ready to go," Kostus said.
arehernandez@tribune.com or 407-420-5471 or on Twitter @ahernandez_OS
Weather alerts
Be the first to know when severe weather threatens your neighborhood. Sign up for our text alerts at OrlandoSentinel.com/about/mobile


Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel

[kittygilchrist]

My pool is likely to flood over. My friend is driving to MCO in the storm. I'm worried.

[PaPaLarry]

Seems to me, The Golf Courses would automatically cancel golf for the day with all the downpour we got? I'm sure they don't want tire marks all over. Good day for pool instead

[Yucatan2]

I just finished applying Epsom Salts on the grass.
Hydrogen Peroxide also applied to area around shrubs
and wimpy spots on the lawn.

Could you elaborate on this please? We are new to Florida and do have parts of the lawn looking shabby....what does Hydrogen Peroxide and epsom salts do for lawns?

[Bonnevie]

I'm curious as well. The epsom salts would supply magnesium but what does the peroxide do?

[kittygilchrist]

Originally Posted by hope2soon

I'm curious as well. The epsom salts would supply magnesium but what does the peroxide do?

I'd reply to this, but it belongs in another forum...