By Islam El-Sakka
Relentless storms across the Florida peninsula this week shattered rainfall records, inundating homes, submerging roads and leaving neighborhoods inaccessible. Federal officials said the severe weather on Sunday was “certainly a factor” in a Learjet crash outside Palm Beach that killed nine people.
Record-Breaking Rainfall
In Melbourne, southeast of Orlando, the National Weather Service gauge recorded 11.51 inches of rain on Monday alone — the highest single-day total ever measured there, surpassing the 10.23 inches that fell during Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The site averages about two and a half inches for the entire month of November. Just three days into the month, Melbourne had already logged 13.69 inches, marking its wettest November on record, eclipsing the 9.72 inches set in 1963.
Elsewhere in Brevard County, including the town of Malabar, some gauges recorded more than two feet of rain over the three-day period from Sunday to Tuesday.
El Niño Winter Ahead
Meteorologists said the unusually heavy rain is a prelude to the stormy conditions expected this winter due to El Niño, a climate pattern that disrupts weather worldwide. In Florida, that disruption will likely make for a very damp winter, experts said.
