A typical summer pattern prevails for all of south Florida. There’s no shortage of heat and humidity. Then, occasional thunderstorm activity is driven by sea breeze development. Each day this week the majority of storms have been bubbling up during the stifling afternoon heat. These storms actually originate from sea breeze circulations which serve as focal points for torrential rain, lightning, and possible hail. Since there’s little steering force, storm activity basically sits in place without decidedly moving in one direction or the other. On Wednesday the biggest clash of lightning (hundreds of strikes within a hour) was over the western suburbs of Broward County. Also, trained spotters reported hail covering roads and driveways near the intersection of University Drive and Sunrise Boulevard in Plantation. The hail was the size of pennies. There’s a good chance we’ll see the return of more strong storms into Thursday, although forecast models suggest the activity could form a little earlier than previous days. The rest of the forecast involves “more of the same”. Weak high pressure will still be at the heart of the pattern (along with active sea breeze circulations that drift around). The only difference ahead, potentially, could be a sliver of drying which could make progress into the region. It’s actually part of a much larger batch of dry air. It’s what’s often called Saharan Air and it amounts to high-up dust particles, suspended together, all the way across the Atlantic (from the Saharan). With this type of air comes a plume of haze that suppresses a lot of rain. As a result, somewhat drier and more hazy times could come just in time for the upcoming weekend. Stay tuned.