A trough over the Gulf of Mexico and high pressure over the Atlantic pumped plenty of moisture in South Florida. This allowed showers and thunderstorms to develop across the region.
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 trough over the Gulf of Mexico and high pressure over the Atlantic pumped plenty of moisture in South Florida. This allowed showers and thunderstorms to develop across the region. Some low-level convergence with modest helicity levels were enough to spin up a tornado and produce a funnel cloud over the east coast metro regions of South Florida.
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 29, 12:59 PM EST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Miami FL 159 PM EDT Tue May 29 2018 .AVIATION... VFR should prevail for remainder of daytime hours today with only an isolated shower or storm possible in vicinity of TAF sites through next few hours. Decided not to mention vicinity showers or storms for most of TAF period, but it's possible later forecasts may need to be adjusted. Some guidance suggests periods of low CIGs late this evening, but confidence not high enough to go MVFR. VFR more likely tonight. Generally south winds this afternoon become light overnight and increase to near 10 kt after 13Z from the SE. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 752 AM EDT Tue May 29 2018/ UPDATE... Updated the forecast to match the latest blends of Hi-res mode data. This adjusted PoP amounts, shifting higher PoPs later in the day to the west. However, showers and thunderstorms remain possible through the day across South Florida. The motion of the cells should be generally to the north at around 20 to 25 mph, as Alberto and a Bermuda high keep a southerly flow across the area. PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 400 AM EDT Tue May 29 2018/ DISCUSSION... Surface/upper air analyses and satellite imagery continue to show a deep southerly fetch over Florida between low pressure over the Gulf/Deep South and high pressure over the western Atlantic. Vigorous convection over/near Cuba over the past 36 hours has been the source for thick convective debris clouds advecting north in the plume over south Florida, serving to keep the boundary layer relatively stable most of the time. In addition, some dry air (which has not been well-depicted in any of the models) has been embedded in the plume at times, possibly due to some combination of entrainment of patches of the dry air over the Yucatan/western Caribbean into the southerly plume and/or adiabatic warming and associated drying of the air in subsident areas surrounding the vigorous convection to our south. GOES-16 Precipitable Water imagery suggests the dry boundary layer air sampled by the 00Z MFL sounding has moistened up overnight, with satellite PW well over 2 inches once again in place. This is corroborated by a 05Z AMDAR aircraft descent sounding into FLL showing notable moistening of the boundary layer since 00Z. Indeed, scattered showers have been forming this morning over the warm gulf stream waters just off the Atlantic Coast. 00Z multi-model consensus suggests a weak disturbance in the southerly flow moving up from the western Caribbean later today, which is hinted at south of Isle of Youth, Cuba in the current GOES- 16 mid-level water vapor loop. With more moisture in place, somewhat less convective debris clouds from the south overspreading the area, and the approach of this weak disturbance, will indicate high chance POPs today, but not quite as high as some of the guidance blends. It should also be noted the 3km NAM nest has been performing the best among the models the last few days regarding convective placement/timing, and its 00Z run is quite aggressive with convection around S FL today. Although timing/placement of any convection is low confidence, with SSW mean layer flow in the boundary layer nearly equal to the low level parcel inflow vector, cell training/backbuilding will be a concern, so we cannot discount the possibility of locally heavy rainfall amounts and flooding in a few areas. The region continues to be in a marginal risk of excessive rainfall today from the Weather Prediction Center. After today, models are in good agreement that deep southerly flow will continue but with less magnitude as ex-Alberto pulls away and the pressure gradient weakens. So chance to high chance POPs will continue, particularly during the day when diurnal convection chances are highest. By Friday, drier air noses into the region as the Atlantic high begins to assert itself over the area, so POPs decrease. For the weekend and beyond, a typical early summer pattern is indicated with very warm temperatures and daytime convection focusing over the interior. There are hints the ridge axis may set up just south of the region, so any daytime convection may tend to drift toward the east coast this weekend. MARINE... Moderate to occasionally fresh southerly winds are forecast today as the area is between a low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico and high pressure in the western Atlantic. Winds will shift to southeasterly Wednesday and decrease by Friday as the influence of the Atlantic high pressure increases over the area. Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms will be likely over the waters today and Wednesday, bringing locally higher winds and waves. Shower chances return to normal summer levels by late in the week. BEACH FORECAST... A moderate risk of rip currents continues today at both the Atlantic and Gulf beaches, as sand bars continue to settle following the strong winds and wave action from the past couple of days. The risk is expected to gradually decrease Wednesday through Friday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... West Palm Beach 84 74 85 75 / 60 40 50 40 Fort Lauderdale 83 76 85 77 / 50 20 50 40 Miami 83 76 85 76 / 50 20 50 40 Naples 83 73 84 73 / 60 30 50 40 && .MFL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...None. AM...None. GM...None. && AVIATION...98/ABH
Hazardous Weather Outlook for South Florida National Weather Service Miami FL 801 AM EDT Tue May 29 2018 AMZ610-630-650-651-670-671-FLZ063-066>075-168-172>174-GMZ656-657-676- 300015- 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- 801 AM EDT Tue May 29 2018 ...MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS FOR THE ATLANTIC AND GULF BEACHES... ...THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY... This hazardous weather outlook is for South Florida. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT Rip currents: There is a moderate risk of rip currents along both the Atlantic and Gulf beaches of South Florida. Thunderstorms: A few thunderstorms are possible all of South Florida. The main threat will be lightning and locally heavy rainfall. Flooding: Periods of heavy rainfall are possible over the east coast metro areas of South Florida today with any heavy rain that moves through the area. This could lead to some minor flooding in urban and poorly drained areas. Waterspouts: There could be a few waterspouts over the Atlantic and Biscayne Bay waters today. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A more typical pattern of showers and a few thunderstorms will likely begin on Wednesday and last through the remainder of the week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Widespread spotter activation is not anticipated at this time. However, individual spotters are encouraged to report any 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.
The Miami radar (KAMX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:57 UTC.
1 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Member of Broward County Emergency Management reported a funnel cloud northwest of the Sawgrass Expressway around 3 PM EDT associated with a thunderstorm over the Everglades.
A brief tornado touched down in the Homestead area. Minor tree and property damage occurred during a path from the 15900 block of SW 296th street north to US-1 near SW 290th Street. Minor property and tree damage occurred around 8 PM EDT at a residence on SW 296th Street. Tree damage continued in the Redland Migrant Center. Finally, behind a car rental facility on US-1 there was minor aluminum damage to a carport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Florida, 2018Warnings in Florida, May 2018
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: 757094, 757095.