Tropical Storm Gamma forms in the western Caribbean

© Greg Lovett, The Palm Beach Post
Fishermen cast their lines Friday at the Juno Beach Pier as showers roll in from the north.

© NOAA
Tropical Storm Gamma

A glut of spongy air is forecast to sit over South Florida through the weekend, feeding off a surplus of Caribbean moisture that also helped spin up the season’s 25th tropical cyclone on Friday.

Tropical Depression 25 became Tropical Storm Gamma late Friday, but it is no threat to Florida. It is near the Yucatan Peninsula and will cut across Mexico into the western Gulf of Mexico. 

It is only the second system in history to don the name Gamma. The first Gamma was a tropical storm that formed in mid-November 2005 west of the Lesser Antilles. It fizzled near the coast of Central America.

© NOAA
Tropical Depression 25

Tropical Storm Gamma is forecast to reach 60-mph winds once it reaches the western Gulf of Mexico early Monday. From there, it is expected to turn west. 

“With ocean temperatures still much above average, and a season that has a proven track record for spitting out large numbers of named storms, we likely will see at least three named storms form in October,” said Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters in his column for Yale Climate Matters.

© NOAA
Tropical Depression 25 forecast track.

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For South Florida, the spasmodic drenchings this week that broke rainfall records from West Palm Beach through the Treasure Coast are most closely tied to a stalled cool front that won’t begin to lift out of the area until Sunday.

© Lannis Waters
A bicyclist dressed for the weather pedals along South Flagler Drive in light rain Friday in West Palm Beach.

Even then, rain chances remain at 50%. The southeast coast from the Keys to Jupiter is under a flood watch through 8 p.m. Sunday. Coastal flooding could be exacerbated by higher than normal tides associated with Thursday’s full moon. 

The rain-cooled air led to a preliminary high temperature Friday of just 80 degrees at Palm Beach International Airport. If that holds, it would tie the lowest high temperature for Oct. 2, which was set in 1888.

South Florida Water Management District meteorologists are forecasting widespread rainfall of at least 2 inches, with up to 7 inches in some areas into Sunday. The district is lowering canals and asking residents to clear storm drains to prevent flooding. 

© NOAA
GOES East satellite image of Tropical Depression 25 near the Yucatan Peninsula and a cold front stalled over Florida.

“We’re still in the rainy season,” noted Larry Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “This front just stalled so it’s going to be intermittent heavy rainfall.”

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The Miami office of the NWS has set the official end of the rainy season as Oct. 15.

West Palm Beach broke a 77-year-old rainfall record Thursday with 3.58 inches of rain. It’s unlikely to surpass Friday’s 6.34-inch record-holder set in 1963, but records could fall over the weekend with current records of 3.22 inches today and 2.88 inches on Sunday.

On Friday, Miami-Dade County took the brunt of the rainfall with 2 to 4 inches falling in an hour during the late afternoon.

But that was minor compared with areas near Jensen Beach, which received more than a foot of rain Thursday. That trend continued Friday with nearly 7 inches falling near Palm City as of early afternoon.

© NOAA
Forecast track models for Tropical Depression 25.

The rain has caused problems for farmers trying to plant fall vegetables so they’ll be ready for harvest before the end of November, which is typically a profitable time because of Thanksgiving.

Ryan Roth, vice president of Roth Farms in Belle Glade, said a rainy September bleeding into a rainy October has made it difficult to plant his iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, parsley and cilantro.

Tractors don’t work well in mud, and nascent root systems can’t stay saturated for extended periods.

© Damon Higgins
A woman makes her way through the parking lot at the Palm Beach Publix as heavy rain falls Friday.

“In early to mid-September, we were already a full two weeks behind,” Roth said. “Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are our three big markets so one of the three largest ones, we’ll miss.”

Rice farmers, who are harvesting now, are also struggling with the wet weather because the combines can’t get in the fields, and wind and rain knock rice grains off the plants.

“We’re going day-to-day,” said Keith Wedgworth, vice president of Wedgworth Farms and president of the Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau. “Getting the rice out of the field has been trying because it’s been so wet.”

© NOAA
48-hour rainfall totals through 7 a.m. Friday.

Behind Tropical Depression Gamma, a tropical wave over the eastern Caribbean was given a 40% chance of development over five days by the National Hurricane Center. On Friday, heavy rainfall and gusty winds were hitting parts of the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

After Gamma, the next name on the 2020 tropical cyclone list is Delta. Delta was first used in 2005 when it became a tropical storm on Nov. 23. It formed in the far off Atlantic and spun around harmlessly before heading back toward Africa and falling apart.

© NOAA
Outlook

© NOAA
2020 Greek Alphabet tropical cyclone names

© Lannis Waters
Dark skies over Midtown Beach 10 minutes before sunrise in Palm Beach Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. [LANNIS WATERS/palmbeachpost.com]

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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: NEW: Tropical Storm Gamma forms in the western Caribbean