Happy Friday, South Florida!
Hopefully everyone was able to get a good night’s sleep last night despite the heavy rain and thunderstorms that pushed through South Florida on and off throughout the night. Rumbles of thunder kept many awake and this morning we also woke up to rain and thunderstorms across our area. So hopefully everyone enjoyed Thursday because it seemed to be our last typical summertime day for quite a few days.
Today South Florida will transition to a more rainy weather pattern. An upper-level low pressure system over our state triggered showers and strong thunderstorms all night. This is the same system that keeping Tropical Depression Fred in check. Some areas of South Florida received over 3″ of rain last night alone while some of the thunderstorms turned severe and produced very gusty winds.
Because of last night’s rain event and in addition to the rain South Florida is expecting in association to Tropical Depression Fred, a FLOOD WATCH has been issued for all of South Florida starting tonight through Sunday. Scattered showers & thunderstorms will be possible today but by tonight some of the tropical rain associated with Fred will finally move in. So today it will be breezy at times with a few showers and thunderstorms throughout the day, turning wetter by tonight.
Fred is still a tropical depression and has had a difficult time re-strengthening due to its ongoing battle with wind shear. The wind shear is forecast to lessen throughout the day today all while Fred moves into the warmer waters of the FL Straits later today. Some strengthening is possible once again later today and Fred is forecast to become a tropical storm by tonight. For now, South Florida should plan on increasing wind and tropical rain late tonight and especially for the start of the weekend.
Speaking of which, South Florida should expect a wet weekend. Tropical Storm force conditions will be possible across the FL Keys as early as Saturday morning as squally weather spreads across the rest of South Florida. Although some strengthening is possible as Fred approaches the FL Keys, wind shear should keep the system in check. So the good news is that we are not expecting an intense storm as it gets closer to the Keys. Regardless of intensity, Fred will be a rainmaker for all of South Florida through the weekend,…especially on Saturday.
Try to keep dry this weekend!
Erika Delgado
Meteorologist
WSVN Channel 7 News
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