A powerful blast of thunderstorms rolled over South Florida on Sunday afternoon, with the strongest winds reaching the near-hurricane strength of over 70 mph in Palm Beach County, forecasters said.
One wind gust at Palm Beach International Airport reached 71 mph, said Larry Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Miami-South Florida forecast office.
“In Palm Beach County is where we’ve seen the strongest winds so far,” Kelly said just before 3:30 pm Sunday, adding that the strongest winds in Palm Beach measured between 50 and 70 mph between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. In Broward he said, where the storms were still moving through, the strongest winds reached between 40 and 50 mph.