May 18, 2009 11:00 pm US/Eastern
S. Fla. Rainy Season Gets Underway, Just In Time
The 2008-2009 Dry Season Ranked As Second Driest On Record
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MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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CBS4 viewer Ari Ben-Canaan shot this picture outside of his Hollywood home Monday night.
Courtesy Of Ari Ben-Canaan
Dust off those umbrellas and rain coats because forecasters say South Florida's rainy season has arrived early and those rain drops started falling Monday. Tuesday is also expected to be wet.
The forecast called for partly sunny skies with scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms in the morning Monday. In the evening severe thunderstorms and rainfall were passing through most areas, producing heavy rainfall.
The chance of rain was 80-percent Monday night. For Tuesday storms are likely again, heavy in some spots, and the high temperature is 83.
Late Monday night some areas reported flooding, such as at the intersection of Biscayne Blvd. and 14th Street in Miami. Miami International airport also reported several flight delays because of the weather.
The rainy season, triggered by hotter weather and a moister atmosphere and marked by a pattern of morning and afternoon showers, couldn't have come at a better time.
South Florida is in the midst of a drought that has water levels at Lake Okeechobee dangerously low. Water levels there have been so low that farms have been forced to use far less water and much of Homestead, Florida City and the Keys have been put on once-a-week watering restrictions because of concerns that encroaching salt water could taint well fields.
South Florida gets about 70 percent of its annual rainfall during the rainy season.
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