Tropical Storm Mindy made ashore over the Florida Panhandle less than five hours after forming over the Gulf of Mexico, nearly in the same spot where Tropical Storm Fred made landfall less than a month earlier.
Mindy began just off the shore of the Florida Panhandle at 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday afternoon, and by 9:15 p.m. EDT, the storm’s core had moved over St. Vincent Island, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. It wasn’t quite as strong as Fred, which made landfall 15 miles away on August 16 in Cape San Blas, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph.
Since late August, weather forecasts have been keeping an eye on this section of the Atlantic basin for this system.
Mindy’s proximity to land means that damaging winds are unlikely to constitute a significant concern.
Mindy’s moisture plume will continue to contribute to soaking showers and thunderstorms across the southeastern United States through Friday. Downpours can be strong and persistent, dumping 3-6 inches of rain and causing flash flooding in some areas by the end of the week. Rainfall levels will be in the range of 1-2 inches over the country.
Flooding is expected to continue into Friday in the metro regions of Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida, as well as Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina.
Thankfully, the most of the rain will fall east of the areas of Louisiana impacted hardest by Hurricane Ida in late August. According to PowerOutage.us, more than 300,000 utility customers in southeastern Louisiana were still without power as of Wednesday evening.
Torrential rains pounded parts of northern Georgia and upstate South Carolina on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, causing isolated flash flooding. Tropical moisture moving northward from the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the closeness of an old stalled frontal zone, contributed to the downpours.
Despite the fact that wind shear hampered development earlier in the week, the warm seas beneath the system helped it develop.
“On Wednesday, the core of this [system] was over some of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepest warm water,” Metrologist said.