Tropical Depression — Metro Palm Beach County, Florida

2007-11-01 · Metro Palm Beach County, Florida

Event narrative

The center of Tropical Storm Noel passed well east of southeast Florida on November 1, with sustained winds of 25 to 30 mph reported across Palm Beach County. Highest gusts were in the 32 to 39 mph range across Palm Beach County.

The strongest winds and minor damage occurred on October 30 and 31 preceding Noel's closest passage to southeast Florida. Damage was minor and mainly confined to a few downed power lines. Around 5,000 customers lost power in the three-county area of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Rainfall amounts were rather light, ranging from a half-inch (0.5) to nearly two inches (1.94) 9 miles west of Sweetwater.

Lowest sea level pressures were in the 1003 to 1004 mb range.

Wider weather episode

A strong pressure gradient between high pressure over the Mid-Atlantic states and Tropical Storm Noel over Hispaniola and eastern Cuba caused a prolonged period of strong east winds over Southeast Florida and the adjacent waters. As Noel moved north across the western Bahamas, the strong winds continued across southeast Florida. The event caused severe beach erosion, coastal flooding, and minor wind damage. The event began in the last week of October.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 66160. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.