It sure has been a wet and stormy stretch of weather this week with the daily deluge of rain during the afternoons and evenings. This soggy setup can be attributed to a stalled front draped across the Florida Peninsula that has been around the past few days but we are beginning to see some changes to this setup.
This front will start to move to the south, shifting toward the Florida Straits tomorrow as an area of low pressure develops off the east coast while moving north. As that low continues to move north, the front will follow to the south, leading to lower rain chances for Friday and Saturday.
Before we get there, South Florida will endure a final round (or two) of numerous rain and thunderstorms this afternoon. In the morning, scattered storms will be possible across the Florida Keys while the mainland enjoys a mix of sun and clouds. It’s not until the afternoon and evening when storms will be likely across the mainland, with storms developing earlier in the day around noon.
As we’ve seen the past few days, the risk for an isolated severe storm in addition to flooding still exists. Small hail and gusty winds will be threats with today’s storms.
Now for Friday and Saturday, the front will be to our south, leading to a shift in our wind direction out of the northeast. With fronts this time of the year, we tend to not enjoy a “clean sweep,” meaning that the moisture doesn’t completely clear. Therefore, we’ll see some scattered, passing showers, especially in the afternoons, along with sunshine, a slight dip in humidity and seasonable temperatures. Lows will be in the mid 70s and highs in the upper 80s at many locations!
Then starting Sunday, the front lifts back to the north and stalls out near or across South Florida. This means rain chances will be higher and near-normal once again at a 50-60% chance along with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s.
In the tropics, that area of low pressure set to develop off our coast has a medium, 40% chance of sub-tropical development, with impacts this weekend to the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic regardless of development. There is also a tropical wave with a high formation chance over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Hurricane Nigel, which is forecast to lose tropical characteristics soon.
