Florida drenched with heavy rain, coastal flooding as tropical system tries to develop along Southeast coast

The Sunshine State will be anything but sunny this week with rain, rain, and more rain in the forecast.

From Miami and the Everglades through Cocoa Beach and Jacksonville, thunderstorms will form on the sea breeze front that picks up with the afternoon heating during the week.

“Florida will be slammed, especially from Orlando down to the south, and a lot of this heavy rain is positioned in areas that just can’t take it, to be quite honest,” FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin said. “Fort Lauderdale has a huge surplus (of rain) – over 2 feet in addition to what they should have for this time of year, so heavy rain in some of these urban areas like Miami and Fort Lauderdale it’s going to cause street flooding.”

A cold front is sagging south and will stall out over Florida.

That will act as the focus of a stormy activity that is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Meanwhile, high pressure over the Northeast will block any movement of the front.

The clockwise flow of air around the high will also funnel strong easterly winds onto the coast.

“We have a solid onshore push that’s going to bring some rain, especially to the Atlantic side of Florida,” said FOX Weather meteorologist Craig Herrera.

That is why the Atlantic coast of Florida will see so much more rain than the Gulf Coast.

Dangerous surf and coastal flooding

All those days of strong easterly winds over the Atlantic will churn up impressive waves heading for the Eastern Seaboard.

This will set up another round of dangerous surf and rip currents along beaches from Maryland to Miami.

The piling up of water along the coast also puts low-lying areas at risk for high tide or sunny day flooding.

Charleston, South Carolina started to see flooding on Sunday.

It’s a familiar sight for cities like Charleston that just saw this type of flooding when Hurricane Idalia pushed water and waves onshore, leaving downtown looking more like a waterway.

Southeast storm may undertake possible tropical connection

Toward the end of the workweek, the FOX Forecast Model shows the stubborn storm may undergo a possible tropical enhancement. 

The low, which will be sitting over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, may try to take on some tropical characteristics – though that remains highly uncertain at this time.

Tropical or not, the low, combined with the high to the north, will continue to lead to increased rain and multiple days of strong onshore winds along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and up into the coastal Carolinas, the FOX Forecast Center said. 

“Showers and thunderstorms, pretty typical for Florida, but this is where things get a little interesting,” said Meteorologist Jane Minar. “We have this low-pressure system that’s expected to develop along this stalled front. And any type of low-pressure system that is near Florida or anywhere in the proximity of these incredibly warm waters of the Gulf Coast and the east coast of Florida, we could maybe see something develop. (It) pulls up to the north as we go into the Carolinas. So we’ll watch it closely.”

The National Hurricane Center gives the area a 30% chance of development over the next week.

Much-needed Florida rain for some

Not everyone will be disappointed by the heavy rain.

“We are in a drought, believe it or not, severe to extreme drought along the coast,” said FOX 13 Tampa Bay Meteorologist Tony Sadiku. “It includes areas just south of Tampa, including places like Bradenton and Sarasota. They’d actually love to see some rain. The deficit there (is) like 10 to 20 inches for the year. So perhaps some beneficial rain.”