ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s Florida. Sure we’re used to the heat, but oftentimes we welcome the near-daily afternoon storms to help cool us off a bit.
During this extended May heatwave, however, it’s basically been bone dry.
So what gives?
Typically with the heating-of-the-day, we will initiate the sea breeze which will help force up those afternoon storms.
While the heat is there to get the sea breeze going there is something else hanging out in our atmosphere.
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High pressure.
This large chunk of high pressure is hanging out in the mid-levels of our atmosphere, about 15,000 to 20,000 feet above the ground.
These areas of high pressure cause air to sink. When air sinks, it warms up and dries out.
Storms need air to rise and eventually cool and condense to get clouds, rain and storms to form.
The sinking air, for the most part, has won the battle preventing widespread storms from developing.
If at any time during the summer we have temperatures getting into the mid 90s, but limited storms, it’s likely one of these strong high pressure cells are to blame.