Damage done. Hurricane Michael slammed ashore yesterday afternoon across the Panhandle of Florida, delivering a catastrophic blow to areas from Panama City to Apalachicola. Below is a graphic from Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State, ranking the strongest landfalling hurricanes in U.S. History. Michael ranks 3rd strongest in pressure and 4th in terms of winds.
With winds at 135kts (155mph), some buildings were completely destroyed and the coastline was inundated with a powerful storm surge. Remarkably, Michael underwent rapid strengthening as it approached landfall, creating an intense eyewall that was more like a buzz saw of wind coming in. Today will shed new light on how much damage there is. For parts of Panama City and Mexico Beach areas, this was their Hurricane Andrew.
This morning, Michael is a tropical storm and continues to move northeast, dropping a band of 3-6″ of rain.
That band of 3-6″ will be very close to southern New England tomorrow morning, perhaps lining up along the south coast with the best chance for tropical downpours across the Cape and Islands.
Not only will we watch that tomorrow morning, we’ll also track some downpours through the day today. Mostly in the afternoon as some tropical moisture enhances rain rates. With a quick 1-2″ locally, localized street flooding a poor drainage areas flooding, is possible.
The weekend is cool with light showers/sprinkles Saturday morning and drying out Saturday afternoon. Highs are only in the lower 50s! It’ll dry out for the Sox game in time and be dry again Sunday. Sunday also looks good at Gillette. Go Sox, go Pats!
Have a good day.
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