Hang Onto Your Hats, Another Blustery Day
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It's another blustery day across South Florida.
CBS4 Chief Meteorologist David Bernard said our windy weather is pretty typical for this time of year. The culprit is a large area of high pressure over the Eastern United States. The high is expected to gradually weaken into the weekend.
Inland sections of Miami-Dade and Broward can expect northeast winds from 15 to 20 mph throughout the day with gusts in the mid-20s. Coastal areas will have winds from the east-northeast at 20 to 25 mph with gusts to 30 mph.
Wind gusts Wednesday evening knocked down a large branch of a tree in front of a home at the southwest corner of Royal Palm Avenue and 46th Street on Miami Beach. The fall limb narrowly missed the homeowner's car.
"I was watching TV and I heard this big crashing sound and my dog went crazy barking and I thought 'oh my God' it sounded like a car crashing into a concrete wall," said Emily Totino, owner of the home, adding, "So I came out here and I saw this and I said oh my God!"
Totino said she had always feared a hurricane would bring down the Mohagony tree in front of her Miami Beach home--she never expected a simple gust of wind to do the trick.
She said she's complained to the City for years that the trees are simply too tall, believing they are a threat to the homes, and pedestrians in the neighborhood.
The National Weather Service is advising beach goers to stay out of the water due to the high risk of rip currents. Lifeguard stations up and down the coast are flying yellow and red flags to warn swimmers of the danger.
The red flags, which warn of rip currents, are flying at the beach. While some water sports enthusiasts revel in the waves, others are not so thrilled.
The Paryseks, visiting Miami from Rochester New York, are just happy to get a break from the colder weather. What feels like colder temperatures to most South Floridians, is nothing more than a cool breeze to them.
"There was snow when we left so obviously this is a lot better," Steve Parysek.
Rip currents are powerful channels of water flowing quickly away from shore which occur most often at low spots, breaks in sandbars and in the vicinity of structures such as jetties and piers.
Swimmers caught in a rip current should remain calm and swim parallel to shore. Once free of the outgoing current they can swim back to the beach.
Guide: How to escape a rip current
The rip current risk and rough seas will be with us through the weekend.
A small craft advisory is also in effect for boaters. The NWS reports seas will build to around 13 feet in the Gulf Stream and to around eight feed over the offshore Gulf waters.
Seas will gradually subside Thursday night and Friday, with seas of 5 to 7 feet expected by Friday night and less than 6 feet on Saturday.
The small craft advisory is in effect until late Friday night.
