Happy Friday, South Florida!
Hopefully everyone had a great first week of November. The weather pattern is finally improving across South Florida as Hurricane Rafael continues to move farther west into the Gulf of Mexico, taking with it the very tropical air mass that we’ve experienced much of the week. Today South Florida felt a significant difference as far as humidity levels as slightly drier air finally began to move in across the region. This not only made it feel a bit more comfortable but it also helped bring back the sunshine across South Florida and lowered our rain chances. And even though the breeze was still strong at times, those pesky strong winds are finally out of the forecast after almost 2 weeks.
Hurricane Rafael has overcome dry air across the Gulf of Mexico and has managed to maintain its category 2 status once again today. As it continues moving west through the Gulf of Mexico and away from the US, conditions up and down the state will continue to improve. And while Rafael is forecast to remain over the Gulf of Mexico through the weekend and into early next week, it will not pose any threat to the entire state of Florida.
Even though Rafael continues to move away from our area, the tropics are not completely dead yet. A reminder that there is still a little less than a month left of hurricane season and the Southwest Atlantic is showing just that. A disturbance near the Virgin Islands and the Greater Antilles continues to produce disorganized showers and cloudiness across much of the islands. Some development will be possible as it continues to drift westward through the next couple of days but right now models are not very impressed with the system and significant development for now does not look likely. Regardless of development, this system will likely produce heavy rainfall for the northern Leeward Islands, the greater Antilles and for the southeastern Bahamas through the start of the weekend. Some of that moisture may even reach our area.
As a disturbance in the Atlantic continues to move closer to South Florida, the northern extent of the tropical moisture may actually skirt southern portions of our area at the end of the weekend and into early next week. That is, if the moisture holds together by then. As a result, South Florida could be looking at scattered showers returning to the forecast late Sunday and into early next week. The good news is that once the moisture moves out then South Florida will finally begin to quiet down once again ahead of possibly our next Front that could be reaching South Florida late next week!
Have a wonderful long holiday weekend.
Erika Delgado
Meteorologist
WSVN / Channel 7 News
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