Miami Is Having A REALLY Terrible Summer

Flooding in Miami on Tuesday. The city has been beset
by record heat and tremedous downpours all summer
Photo by Emily Michot/Miami Herald. 

If heat, humidity and torrential downpours aren't your thing, you'd be wise to avoid Florida in the summer.  

That kind of weather is a staple down there.

But even by Miami standards, this summer has been a humdinger, and not in a good way.

First of all, Miami just completed its hottest July on record. Julys are oppressive there anyway, but this was ridiculous.

July there was the hottest on record with a mean temperature of 85.7 degrees. All but one day made it above 90 degrees during the month. On 19 days in July, the temperature at night never made it below 80 degrees.

Ya like rain with your heat? You got it in Miami. July turned out to be just the warmup in that department, with a total of 12.45 inches of rain, almost double the average. Pretty much all that rain came in just five days during the month, including a 5.49 inch deluge on July 12.

Then August hit. Miami SO did not get off to a good start this month. An epic flood swept the area amid all that humidity. Especially in Miami Beach.

The officials rain measurement at the Miami airport yesterday was a lackluster 0.57 inches, but downtown Miam and Miami Beach got seven inches of rain in just a few hours. Many blocks of Miami Beach were underwater, with flooding gushing into businesses and apartments.

The heavy rain also hit during high tide. Sea levels are rising, and high tides often cause minor flooding in Miami Beach anyway. The torrential rains could not drain away easily with the high tide, despite an elaborate array of drain systems the city is installing. That work isn't done yet, and the rain was too heavy to deal with it anyway.

One video showed cars at a flooded intersection, with employees at a Walgreens bailing water out of the store.

By the way, unlike in some media reports, yesterday's Miami flood was not caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Emily. It was caused by slow moving thunderstorms along a weak but humid weather boundary.

Here's another video of the Miami flood. Pretty rough!