Nicole, we hardly knew ye.
What was a wave out in the Caribbean for a few days, became Tropical Depression 16 on Tuesday morning, grew to Tropical Storm Nicole late this morning and is falling apart over the Florida Straits.
Even as they named it, National Hurricane Center forecasters said the worst of it would stay at sea and pose no threat to Florida, and dropped all storm watches and warnings.
As of the center's 5 p.m. advisory, Nicole had degenerated into an elongated area of low pressure. It is expected to be swallowed by an extratropical low and move up the East Coast.
At 5 p.m., the center was about about 165 miles west of Nassau. It was moving north-northeast at 12 mph and was expected to speed up in the next 24 hours and aim more to the northeast, taking it farther from the Florida coast.
Tropical storm force winds extend 345 miles, but they are southeast, away from Florida.
Top sustained winds were near 40 mph and little strengthening was expected before Nicole met its end some time tonight or Thursday, replaced by a refreshing batch of drier air and sunny skies.
Rainfall totals, which were dramatic overnight and this morning, appeared to be tapering off by the afternoon, but forecasters warned they could continue into the late afternoon and evening, which means motorists who had to drive through it this morning could get to see it again.
Only the Fort Lauderdale and Miami urban areas are still under a flood watch until 8 tonight. Increasing northeasterly winds are expected to cause rip currents along Atlantic Coast beaches this weekend and into next week.
Nicole, then still Tropical Depression 16, especially pounded the Jupiter-Hobe Sound and Boca Raton areas overnight and early this morning. National Weather Service radar estimated 4 inches of rainfall over the Jupiter area, about 6 inches over Hobe Sound, and more than 5 inches over the Boca Raton area since midnight.
By mid-morning, the heaviest rains appeared to be over West Palm Beach and Boynton Beach.
The weather service reported 2.83 inches fell at Palm Beach International Airport between midnight and 2 p.m. today - nearly an inch of that from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. alone.
And a South Florida Water Management District gauge recorded an inch falling over Boynton Beach just between 8 and 10 a.m., and 1-1/2 inches at West Palm Beach's Forest Hill High School between 8 and 11 a.m.
The storm's effects weren't enough to close down schools in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, and officials reported no major problems with kids getting to schools this morning.
South Florida Water Management District officials report no flooding and said the district's a complex maze of canals, gates, pump stations, levees and culverts is having no problems in controlling water.
Meteorologists also are watching two tropical systems out in the central Atlantic. Neither has a chance of forming any time soon.
Long-range global models suggest a large and broad area of low pressure will continue to sit over the northwest Caribbean through the next two weeks, and it could spawn more tropical systems that could threaten South Florida, forecasters said.
The Author is a Journalist
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