Kevin's Blog

As you can tell, Deke and I have a little wager going on about how many times we can use Fay in a blog title and still have it apply to the topic at hand!

If you are following the progress of the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay (Still a tropical depression sitting near Meridian, MS.) you are likely aware of the rain that is falling in biblical proportions. Through this afternoon, here are some of the cumulative rainfall totals that have resulted in a petition to add ark building to the activities of many of our friends living in the southeast U.S. I have only listed official rainfall totals in excess of 10 inches. There are unofficial reports of some locations receiving over 30 inches of rain during this storm.

FLORIDA

MELBOURNE/WINDOVER FARMS             26.65 inches
CAPE CANAVERAL                                  22.83 inches
SEBASTIAN                                           22.25 inches
PALM SHORES                                       21.44 inches
PALM BAY                                              21.00 inches
VIERA                                                   20.75 inches
HILLIARD                                              19.70 inches
MELBOURNE NWS OFFICE                      19.62 inches
COCOA BEACH                                       19.01 inches
TALLAHASSEE                                        11.93 inches

GEORGIA

THOMASVILLE                                         27.50 inches
COOLIDGE                                              12.03 inches
NEWTON                                                 11.68 inches
ELMODEL                                                11.08 inches

I realize that many of these totals might make you feel Fay-nt. However, I have spent a lot of time in these locales over the years, and not much Fay-zes the people that live there. Not even Fay herself!

But what of Fay-ja Vu? The title of today's blog would seem to suggest that this sequence of events has happened before!

It has!

During early September 2002, the 6th tropical storm of the season formed, this time in the western Gulf of Mexico. Since the National Hurricane Center uses a 6-year rotation of names, and 2002 was six years ago, care to guess the name of that Tropical Storm?  Exactly! It was Fay.

Just like her 2008 reincarnation, the 2002 Tropical Storm Fay moved onshore bringing torrents of rain, then spent several days meandering around south Texas and northern Mexico. Fay resulted in over a foot of rain in many locations as shown in the map below. Unofficial reports of rainfall totals over 24 inches were also received. The purple areas in the maps below all received more than 10 inches of rain.

In addition, 2002 Fay spawned 12 tornadoes and caused millions of dollars in damage. The 2008 version has spun off 20 tornadoes so far, and damage is also in the millions.

If you lived along the Texas coast in 2002, especially those living in Brazoria, Frio, Galveston, La Salle, Live Oak, Matagorda, Nueces, San Patricio and Wharton counties (all were declared disaster areas), you can certainly commiserate with our friends in Florida and Georgia at their Fay-te.

Note to Deke: Are there any good words that start with Gustav?