A surface low developed to the northeast of the region along an upper level shortwave that moved across the region early in the day. Strong showers and thunderstorms developed along an associated weak boundary, leading to gusty winds, small hail, and flooding across Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MFL wrote it up.
A surface low developed to the northeast of the region along an upper level shortwave that moved across the region early in the day. Strong showers and thunderstorms developed along an associated weak boundary, leading to gusty winds, small hail, and flooding across Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 18, 12:47 PM EST, 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Miami FL 147 PM EDT WED MAY 18 2016 .AVIATION... Scattered showers and thunderstorms continue to develop along remnant outflow boundary from last night's convection and seabreeze. Activity continues to slowly move north and northeast towards TMB/MIA/OPF, and HRRR model suggests additional activity will develop northward across east coast airports this afternoon. Have kept mention of VCTS for all airports with tempo groups for Mvfr conditions due to storms. South to southeast winds 5 to 10 knots are generally expected this afternoon with light and variable winds tonight. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 950 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016/ UPDATE... Latest radar imagery shows majority of thunderstorms have moved east of coastal waters into the Bahamas with just a few isolated showers remaining over far southern zones and the Keys. Went ahead and lowered pops for the rest of the morning. Forecast highs may be a degree or two on the high side but will leave as is for now. 12Z MFL sounding showed a stable layer below 850 mb...but plenty of potential instability above that level with steep 850-500mb lapse rates, deep layer shear around 30 kts and a high pwat of 1.91 inches. Models differ on amount of convection this afternoon, ranging from the GFS showing widespread activity to the NAM which shows little or nothing. However, with satellite imagery showing skies already clearing out in the wake of this morning's thunderstorms, appears likely that at least scattered showers and storms will redevelop this afternoon...mainly over the interior to around Lake Okeechobee, with activity spreading eastward toward the coast. 12Z sounding along with SSEO model also suggests a few strong storms are possible later this afternoon with strong downburst winds or possibly some small hail, and SPC has added south Florida into a marginal risk for severe storms this afternoon. PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 736 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016/ AVIATION... Conditions are expected to improve at the terminals by 14z, with rapid improvement possible at some terminals by 13z. VFR generally expected most of the day, though morning convection at APF and potential afternoon convection at all the terminals could introduce bouts of MVFR or IFR conditions with variable gustiness. After 03z, most terminals should see improvement back to VFR. Forecast confidence is high through mid-morning and becomes progressively lower as the period continues. Uncertainty for this afternoon and evening increases due to a lack of high resolution model consensus with convection later today. 02/RAG PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 420 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016/ UPDATE... Went back and made some adjustments to the PoPs for today. Continuing to compare the trend with the synoptic models and the HRRR, and the HRRR seems to reflect the loss of the upper level divergence that we have enjoyed for the event. Still have instability over the area, but thunderstorm coverage is trending down, so also went back and reflected this in the weather, with just sct thunderstorms, but high PoPs for showers. SPC also, mentions that the better dynamics will be moving away in the next few hours. PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 402 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016/ DISCUSSION... An active period of weather will continue for South Florida into the weekend, and possibly into next week. Models showing a short wave exiting the region this morning, as a surface low develops to the northeast. This low will be on a weak boundary that the showers and storms over the area have been developing on. This boundary looks to become more east-west oriented today, somewhere over South Florida, possibly in the vicinity of I-75. If it does develop in this respect, it may cause some training over areas of the southeast metro area. The HRRR does show this , with the boundary slowly drifting south, but with much lower intensity of convection than it has been this past night. Currently have the high PoPs across most of South Florida this afternoon, per most of the model output, but the HRRR would render this as overkill for the area north of I-75. However, will leave the higher PoPs for now. SPC has the area in a general thunderstorm risk for now. But, with still plenty of instability in the area, some of the storms could still be strong today, with an isolated severe possible. After today, it becomes a little trickier. models have begun to diverge on the activity. The ECMWF and the SREF are still showing a wet, active pattern through the weekend. The GFS is now backing off, with some drier moving in over the next couple of days. The GFS puts the PWATs on Friday back to around 1.5 inches, with much less activity than last night. Blended models still have fairly high PoPs, and given this is a change for the GFS, have again kept the high PoPs for now through the weekend. the models are in fairly good agreement with a strong upper level low digging southward over the eastern US over the weekend. They have this low spawning a strong sfc low that should be off the Mid-Atlantic coast for the beginning of the week. They show some drier air circulating around this low, and bringing a drier, quieter pattern to South Florida for the beginning of next week. MARINE... Showers and thunderstorms will be possible through the weekend across the South Florida coastal waters. The wind will be generally out of the south, with some variability day to day. the wind will be becoming lighter after today, which should reduce the risk of rip currents for the all South Florida beaches through the weekend. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... West Palm Beach 73 90 75 89 / 30 60 40 20 Fort Lauderdale 75 91 78 89 / 40 50 40 20 Miami 75 90 78 91 / 40 60 30 20 Naples 75 90 74 90 / 30 30 10 30 && .MFL Watches/Warnings/Advisories... FL...None. AM...None. GM...None. && SHORT TERM...99/SS LONG TERM....88/ALM AVIATION...99/SS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH FLORIDA...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 1042 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016 AMZ610-630-650-651-670-671-FLZ063-066>075-168-172>174-GMZ656-657-676- 190000- LAKE OKEECHOBEE-BISCAYNE BAY- COASTAL WATERS FROM JUPITER INLET TO DEERFIELD BEACH FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM DEERFIELD BEACH TO OCEAN REEF FL OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM JUPITER INLET TO DEERFIELD BEACH FL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM DEERFIELD BEACH TO OCEAN REEF FL FROM 20 TO 60 NM EXCLUDING THE TERRITORIAL WATERS OF BAHAMAS-GLADES-HENDRY- INLAND PALM BEACH-METRO PALM BEACH-COASTAL COLLIER-INLAND COLLIER- INLAND BROWARD-METRO BROWARD-INLAND MIAMI-DADE-METRO MIAMI-DADE- MAINLAND MONROE-COASTAL PALM BEACH-COASTAL BROWARD-COASTAL MIAMI- DADE-FAR SOUTH MIAMI-DADE- COASTAL WATERS FROM CHOKOLOSKEE TO BONITA BEACH FL OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM EAST CAPE SABLE TO CHOKOLOSKEE FL OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM CHOKOLOSKEE TO BONITA BEACH FL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- 1042 AM EDT WED MAY 18 2016 ...NUMEROUS AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS INTERIOR AND EAST... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH FLORIDA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS: SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS MOST OF SOUTH FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING HOURS. THE GREATEST CONCENTRATION OF STORMS WILL BE FROM THE LAKE OKEECHOBEE AREA TO THE EAST COAST METRO, THE ADJACENT ATLANTIC WATERS AND BISCAYNE BAY. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS. WIND: THE STRONGEST STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS ABOVE 40 MPH. HAIL: THE STRONGEST STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL UP TO DIME SIZE. FLOODING: LOCALIZED FLOODING OF STREETS AND POORLY-DRAINED IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING, ESPECIALLY IN AREAS THAT RECEIVED HEAVY RAINFALL YESTERDAY AND EARLY THIS MORNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SCATTERED TO LOCALLY NUMEROUS STORMS ARE STILL POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY BUT WITH A LESSENING CHANCE COMPARED TO THE PAST TWO DAYS. DRIER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ON FRIDAY BUT STILL A CHANCE OF STORMS ACROSS INTERIOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH FLORIDA. RAIN CHANCES INCREASE AGAIN THIS WEEKEND, FOLLOWED BY A DRIER PATTERN EARLY NEXT WEEK. MAIN CONCERNS WITH STORMS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND WILL BE LIGHTNING, LOCALLY FLOODING RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WIDESPREAD SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED, HOWEVER INDIVIDUAL SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HIGH WIND, HAIL AND FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN MIAMI. FOR MORE INFORMATION...VISIT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIAMI WEBSITE AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/MIAMI. MOLLEDA
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 141 PM EDT WED MAY 18 2016 FLZ073-074-173-174-181830- FAR SOUTH MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FL-COASTAL MIAMI DADE COUNTY FL- METROPOLITAN MIAMI DADE FL-INLAND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FL- 141 PM EDT WED MAY 18 2016 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR FREQUENT TO EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS TO 45 MPH FOR SOUTH CENTRAL MIAMI-DADE COUNTY UNTIL 230 PM EDT... * AT 139 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER FLORIDA CITY AND HOMESTEAD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 MPH. * THE PRIMARY IMPACTS WILL BE FREQUENT TO EXCESSIVE LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS TO 45 MPH...HEAVY RAINFALL...AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL. LIGHTNING IS THE NUMBER ONE WEATHER RELATED KILLER IN FLORIDA. TREES AND OPEN SHELTERS OFFER NO PROTECTION. SEEK SHELTER IN A SAFE BUILDING UNTIL THE STORM PASSES. * LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... HOMESTEAD...HOMESTEAD MIAMI SPEEDWAY...THE REDLAND...HOMESTEAD GENERAL AIRPORT...BLACK POINT...FLORIDA CITY...GOULDS...HOMESTEAD BASE...LEISURE CITY...PRINCETON...HOMESTEAD BAYFRONT PARK...NARANJA...RICHMOND WEST... CUTLER BAY...SOUTH MIAMI HEIGHTS AND INLIKITA. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD TO STREET FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. && LAT...LON 2532 8036 2542 8064 2564 8052 2555 8025 TIME...MOT...LOC 1739Z 222DEG 5KT 2545 8046 SHAMBURGER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
157 PM EDT WED MAY 18 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0150 PM TSTM WND GST 3 NW HOMESTEAD PARK 25.47N 80.37W
05/18/2016 M49 MPH MIAMI-DADE FL ASOS
A 49 MPH WIND GUST WAS RECORDED AT HOMESTEAD AIR
RESERVE BASE ASOS SITE AT 150PM EDT
&&
EVENT NUMBER MFL1600293
KELLYThe Miami radar (KAMX), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:02 UTC.
2 flood, 1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An off-duty NWS employee reported dime size hail near exit 2 of the Florida Turnpike.
Homestead Police Department reported one street closure due to flooding. The nearest intersection was unavailable. Several nearby rain gauges in reported 24 hour rainfall totals between 5 and 8 inches rainfall.
AN off-duty NWS employee reported street flooding, including water halfway up driveways, in the Keys Gate development area. The nearest intersection was SW 152nd Avenue and SW 328th street. 5 to 7 inches of rain were measured at nearby sites between Noon and 430 PM.
Broward County Sheriff Office reported damage to several homes near the intersection of NW 2nd Way and NW 4th Street. Damage included window, storm shutter and, fence damage. An awning was also ripped off a home and thrown into a neighbors front door. A few small trees were also knocked down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, May 2016
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 628942, 628955, 628959, 631305.