Tropical Storm Mindy Hits the Florida Panhandle

The fast-moving tropical storm Mindy hit the Florida Panhandle, where more than 13,000 customers lost power on Thursday. More than half of these customers are in the city of Tallahassee.

On Thursday morning, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Tallahassee and Bradfordville, both in Leon County and Midway in Gadsden County. It also extended its flood surveillance to parts of south-central Georgia.

“Be especially careful in heavy rain at night,” said the weather service on Twitter. “If you have to go out and come across flooded streets, turn around and don’t drown!”

Mindy, the 13th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, hit land on Wednesday evening just hours after it formed in the Gulf of Mexico. It produced maximum sustained winds of nearly 40 mph with some stronger gusts, the weather service said when it asked people to secure outdoor items like trash cans and patio furniture.

Further out in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Larry continued its 16 mph advance towards Bermuda, threatening to bring dangerous swells to the east coast of the United States.

Mindy was expected to bring heavy rainfall to the Florida Panhandle as well as South Georgia and the coast of South Carolina on Thursday before moving to the western Atlantic. Five to ten centimeters of rain was expected, in some areas it was up to six centimeters possible.

In addition to flooding, there is also the possibility of isolated tornadoes over the panhandle. Forecasters also warned of pea-sized hail.

“While we don’t anticipate widespread, significant damage, there is still the possibility of flash floods, high winds, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms,” ​​Mayor Lenny Curry of Jacksonville, Fla., Said in a statement. “Although we are not unfamiliar with these conditions, it is important that our citizens remain vigilant.”

Not long before that, in mid-August, Tropical Storm Fred hit land in the Florida Panhandle and Hurricane Grace hit Haiti and Mexico. Tropical storm Henri lost its power on August 22nd and brought record rainfall to the northeastern United States.

The rapid succession of named storms may seem like the Atlantic is kicking them up like a fast-paced assembly line, but their formation coincides with the height of the hurricane season.

The links between hurricanes and climate change are becoming more and more apparent. A warming planet can expect stronger hurricanes and higher incidence of the strongest storms over time – although the total number of storms could decrease as factors such as stronger wind shear could prevent weaker storms from forming.

Hurricanes also get wetter because of more water vapor in the warmer atmosphere; Scientists have suggested that storms like Hurricane Harvey produced much more rain in 2017 than they would without the human impact on the climate. In addition, rising sea levels contribute to higher storm surges – the most destructive element of tropical cyclones.

A major United Nations climate report released in August warned that nations had delayed reducing their fossil fuel emissions for so long that they could not stop the increase in global warming for the next 30 years, leading to more frequent life-threatening heat waves and severe ones Droughts. Tropical cyclones have likely increased in intensity over the past 40 years, the report says, a shift that cannot be explained by natural variability alone.

Ana became the first named storm of the season on May 23, the seventh year in a row that a named storm developed in the Atlantic prior to the official start of the season on June 1.

In May, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted there would be 13 to 20 named storms this year, including six to 10 hurricanes and three to five major category 3 or higher hurricanes in the Atlantic. In a mid-season forecast update in early August, they continued to warn that this year’s hurricane season will be above average, pointing to a busy end to the season.

Matthew Rosencrans of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said an updated forecast suggested there would be 15 to 21 named storms, including seven to 10 hurricanes, by the end of the season on Nov. 30. Mindy is the 13th named storm of 2021.

Last year there were 30 named storms, including six major hurricanes, which forced meteorologists to deplete the alphabet for a second time and switch to using Greek letters.

It was the highest number of storms in history, surpassing 28 from 2005, and including the second highest number of hurricanes on record.

Michael Levenson and Azi Paybarah contributed to the coverage.