NWS Miami warns Monroe County of storms, damaging winds and lightning

Monroe County faced a special weather statement Friday until 4 p.m. EDT as scattered to numerous showers and isolated storms moved across South Florida, threatening driving, outdoor work, beach plans and boating before the afternoon was over. The immediate concern for the Keys was not a long storm band but fast-moving cells that could turn a routine run across town or out on the water into a hazardous one.

The National Weather Service Miami-South Florida office identified damaging winds up to 60 mph and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning as the primary storm hazards. The weather service also warned: “if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.” That put anyone working outside, walking a beach, or trying to finish time on a dock or job site in the path of the day’s most dangerous weather.

A separate marine warning covered the Straits of Florida, where ferry crossings, charter trips and other boat traffic faced their own risks away from the roadways and neighborhoods of Monroe County. The weather service’s hazard pages list a high rip current risk for Florida on June 27, 2026, adding another layer of danger for anyone heading to the shoreline in the Keys or elsewhere along the state’s coast.

The National Hurricane Center expects a low-pressure area to form offshore of the southeastern U.S. coast early next week. The outlook carries only a low chance of development through seven days.

NWS Miami’s event archive lists the June 11-13, 2024 urban flooding and heavy rainfall event and the April 12, 2023 Fort Lauderdale extreme rainfall and flooding event.