The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 8

8A The Miami Herald Friday March 18 1983 i i 1 ALAN FREUND Miami Herald Staff Tree was felled at 55th Ave and SW Seventh Ct in Margate Half-dozen tornados hit in Broward WEATHER From! A tree toppled by the funnel cloud trapped an unidentified motorist inside his car until rescue workers freed him The motorist was only slightly injured a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman said raised a little Cain up said Bob Carney chief clerk of the Lighthouse Point police department got quite a mess on our hands I can tell you" Throughout South Florida the intense thunderstorms snarled morning traffic with a rash of fender benders and disrupted power to thousands of utility customers with downed electrical lines Scattered power failures were reported all over Broward In Miami Beach and South Dade winds downed high voltage lines leaving about 2400 Dade Countians powerless for a short while i Office workers in downtown Miami who ventured outside during the midmorning deluge were pelted with marble-size hail In Naples winds toppled trees and powerlines and ripped the roof from a small grocery store Huge storm-tossed waves also were threatening a Miami-based tugboat the Belcher Tampa and its crew of 14 at sea 210 miles southeast of the Mississippi River A Coast Guard spokesman said three rescue vessels were en route to the tug which reported it was sinking in a losing battle with 25-foot seas Gulf coast communities were told to brace for storm-driven tides two-to-three feet above normal Thursday that were expected to erode beaches and flood low-lying coastal areas In Dade unusually large hall stones falling from towering storm clouds eight miles from top to bottom pummeled downtown area and nearby neighborhoods Some hailstones reportedly were an inch or more in diameter Dick Rosichan a resident of East Buena Vista area raced out into the rain to retrieve giant hail stones that were pelting his yard and roof Rosichan said he's storing the ice crystals in his freezer as souvenirs lived in Miami for 23 years and never seen anything like sad Rosichan saw these big things coming down and I believe it I said to myself gosh it's like a science fiction National Weather Service forecaster Ray Biedinger said the big hail stones were the product of unusually frigid temperatures 9000 temperature today expected in the mid 70s Winds will be gusty and southwesterly Chances for a fair weekend are good forecasters said Temperatures Saturday will be cool warmer on Sunday Forecasters see a chance of rain by Monday weather this whole season has been extremely said forecasteer Emmett Ricks Storm systems rolling across the state out of the Gulf of Mexico since the beginning of the year have drenched Florida with triple and quadruple the amount of rain that is normal National weather service meteorologists are puzzled by this weather patterns no clear explanation for it" said Ricks But in the unseasonably wet weather so far Fort Lauderdale has recorded 1966 inches of rain compared to its normal average of 57 inches Through Tuesday 1381 inches of rain had fallen at Miami International Airport compared to the norm of 503 inches for mid-March In West Palm Beach 211 inches of rain have fallen since Jam 1 compared to the normal amount of 675 inches Herald staff writers Pat Andrews Brian Duffy Colleen Gallagher Julie Calsi Nicki Martin Stephen Hughes and Elizabeth Willson contributed to this report feet and higher in the air over South Florida Air temperatures ranged from freezing at 90000 feet to only 1 degree above zero at 18000 feet he said The ice crystals formed around motes of dust tossed in violent currents of freezing air in the big cu-mulous clouds Biedinger said Forecasters blamed the turbulent weather on a giant slowing low pressure system that moved from the northeastern Gulf over northern portions of the peninsula during the day Temperature and pressure differences in the air surrounding the system gave birth to all sorts of atmospheric unpleasantness forecasters said thunderstorms that roiled up out of this unstable air over the wind-whipped Gulf of Mexico also battered Western Cuba where one man was killed and 64 injured by damaging winds and tornados Thursday punishing winds and rain were actually the prelude to a series of storms destined to sweep across the region during the day accompanying the troublesome low pressure area on its march to the southeastern Atlantic The unstable conditions are expected to improve by today forecasters said Forecasters calculated only a 20 per cent chance of rain with a high RUMS OF PUERTO RICO DON RUM 80 AND 155 PROOF 1982 DON IMPORTS HARTFORD CONN a 3 4 The Viewpoint section 5 is enough to make you think Sundays- wain's YOUNG DENIM SHORTS WOVEN TOPS Choose from a terrific collection of denim shorts and short sleeve solid-color tops in a variety of styles and colors All 100 cotton Shorts 2S-38 Tops S-M-L BELTED LINEN WALKSHORTS YOUNG MADRAS SPORT SHIRTS Linen shorts with quarter front pockets and pleated fronts Many other styles also available Polyester cot- ton 30-40 Button-down short sleeve madras plaid shirts in assorted colors 100 cotton S-M-L YOUNG CASUAL SHORTS SATURDAYS 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