RRSA Vero Beach serves South Florida for the roofing needs of both homeowners and commercial property owners. We also do our best to keep our blog readers in South Florida up-to-date on all things affecting you and your roof. Today we would like to share the latest on what is currently considered a subtropical storm. Alberto has already produced plenty of rain over this Memorial Day Weekend, so much so that South Florida is currently under a flood watch. Alberto is predicted to make landfall sometime today in the Florida Panhandle.

A subtropical storm like Alberto has a less defined and cooler center than a tropical storm, and its strongest winds are found farther from its center. Subtropical storms can develop into tropical storms, which in turn can strengthen into hurricanes. Forecasters cautioned that heavy rain and tropical storm conditions could reach the northern Gulf Coast well ahead of the center of Alberto making landfall.

The storm prompted Florida, Alabama and Mississippi to launch emergency preparations over the weekend amid expectations Alberto would reach land sometime Monday. Alberto’s biggest threat will be its heavy rains, with forecasts of anywhere from four to 12 inches (10-30 centimeters) of rain in some areas.

In a previous blog post, RRSA Vero Beach warned readers that the 2018 Hurricane Season is predicted to be the strongest cycle in 70 years. Now it looks like the season has officially started with Alberto. There has never been a hurricane landfall in the Gulf of Mexico in the month of May. In fact, the strongest May storm in the Gulf of Mexico was Tropical Storm Alice in 1953, which had winds of 70 mph at its peak. What’s more unusual is to have a storm form in the Gulf of Mexico in May. That’s happened only three other times in NOAA’s historical database, last occurring in 1976.

We want our blog readers to know that RRSA Vero Beach stands ready to assist homeowners and commercial property owners in South Florida if your roof is affected by the extreme weather Alberto is set to deliver. Call us to discuss having one of our professional roofing experts come give you a free roof inspection. This is the perfect time to make sure things are as they should be when it comes to the health and safety of your roof before more bad weather in this 2018 Hurricane Season arrives.