Tropical Depression in Metro Broward County, Florida

As TD Nineteen moved westward across South Florida, rain bands produced maximum sustained winds generally between 25-30 mph. Peak wind gusts of 48 mph/42 knots were recorded at the Earth Networks site FRBCS located in Lauderhill, FL at 11:29 AM EDT on September 12th and 43 mph/37 knots was recorded by the ASOS station at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at 11:37 AM EDT. A total of around 560 customers lost power in Broward County. Overall wind impacts were minor and confined to trees and power lines.

A low pressure system, turned tropical disturbance, moving across the western Atlantic and over the Bahamas abruptly formed into Tropical Depression Nineteen on September 11th. Tropical Depression Nineteen gradually continued westward and the center passed about 10 to 20 miles SSE of Miami, Florida during the morning of September 12th with a minimum central pressure of 1007 mb and maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. As Tropical Depression Nineteen moved westward over the South Florida peninsula, it continued to strengthen into a Tropical Storm known as Tropical Storm Sally. Lowest surface pressure recorded over South Florida was 1002.9 mb at Naples Municipal Airport and Marco Island Airport and maximum sustained winds of 35 mph over land at FAU Boca Raton Campus on September 12. Recorded Tropical Storm force wind gusts were measured across South Florida ranging from 40 to 55 mph.

Although the effects from Tropical Depression Nineteen were generally minor for wind and more moderate to significant for rainfall/flooding for South Florida, wind gusts of tropical storm force were measured across much of Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Collier counties. Rainfall flooding impacts were moderate to significant across South Florida with around 3.5 to almost 10 inches across portions of Collier County, around 3 to almost 8 inches across portions of Miami-Dade County, and around 3 to almost 6 inches across portions of Broward County. Almost 4,000 customers lost power during the event, almost all of them split between Collier and Miami-Dade Counties. A peak storm surge of 1.43 feet was observed at Naples Pier and 1.16 at Virginia Key.