Severe Thunderstorm – Miami, Florida – June 6, 2009

Following the violent June 5th, 2009 thunderstorm that produced exceptionally heavy rainfall and flooding over Miami Beach, another severe thunderstorm moved across the downtown Miami area on Saturday, June 6th… producing a small area of notable rotation (within a broader circulation), some very low and rapidly developing scud, and a brief period of torrential rain. On Sunday, June 7th, another severe storm developed over Northeast Miami-Dade county and produced a beautifully vivid supernumerary rainbow as it moved northeastward.

Duration : 0:3:31

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VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM IN MIAMI BEACH – 80MPH wind gusts

Every local I spoke to said they had never seen a thunderstorm this bad before in Miami. There was golf ball sized hail, incredible hurricane force wind gusts and nearly non stop CG lightning strikes, many of which struck the building I was taking shelter in.

The winds came and went four different times over the course of an hour and a half. For simplicity’s sake, I cut out the time in between the periods of high winds. The highest winds occurred around 1:42 and may have gusted to 80mph or more.

Afterwards the flooding was unbelievable. Hundreds of cars were stalled in the middle of the streets due to the high waters, so people were driving on the wrong side of the road and over lawns and sidewalks to pass the motionless cars. Stores were flooded and trees were down all over the island.

Overall, the storm was amazing and surely caused millions of dollars worth of damage. It took me three hours to get home after wards because the causeways back to the mainland were impassable.

Some people have informed me that storms this bad in South Florida are unusual but not “unheard of” as I implied in my old description. I’ve only been in Miami for a year and a half so I don’t have much to compare it to, but this way the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen, including ones I’ve seen while chasing tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas.

Duration : 0:4:43

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