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It's Raining Water, Not Pollen, For A Change

News Channel 8 photo by MAURICE CAPOBIANCO

Streets are slippery in downtown Tampa this afternoon.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 23, 2009

For once the stuff falling from the sky isn't oak pollen. Light rain is spreading over coastal counties and should continue off and on through late afternoon. By evening, it should move off the coast.

Any rain is welcome, both as a relief for lawns and a valuable break for crews battling wildfires. But the weather service estimates most places will eventually see only about 0.1 of an inch.

It would be the first time since March 1 that enough rain has fallen at Tampa International Airport for instruments to measure. Except for the first day of the month, only a trace of rain has been recorded at the airport, which means an amount too small to measure, or less than 0.01 of an inch. If TIA gets the full 0.1 of an inch, the month's total so far would be 0.37 of an inch, still about 1.75 inches below normal for this point in March.

The weather service also cautioned drivers today. The rain will be just enough to make roads slick as accumulated oil on the pavement rises atop the thin film of water. The rain won't be heavy enough to wash away the oil.

Commuters need to be careful of slippery streets this afternoon.

This will probably be our sole shot at rain for the week. The next chance is when a front moves here around the weekend, but forecast models keep pushing that front's arrival back from Saturday into Sunday.

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