ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida has been plagued by a brutal ridge of high pressure overhead, resulting in outlandish temperatures during the warmest parts of the day. On top of this, we’ve seen little dissipating of this heat when we wander through the overnight hours.
This weekend, we can thankfully say all that is changing. To an extent, anyway!
While it will still be hot, we’ll be returning to the Florida standard of hot. By this, we mean temperatures will linger in the low to mid 90s for many of us, and the heat index will graciously drop to normal.
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What’s causing us to finally come down out of this extended July barbecue? The next trough and cold front down in the low levels of our atmosphere trying to drop in.
It does appear thanks to the the flow around our Atlantic high pressure, this cold front will only make it so far down into our viewing area. Because of this, your greater chances for rain and storms go up the further north you go.
The Storm Prediction Center has the upper border of Florida highlighted for a level one risk for severe weather, a very isolated case or two could pop up later on today.
This does not influence our viewing area, but we cannot rule out the possibility of seeing some storms that fire up rapidly and produce lots of lightning and gusty winds.
The first half of your Saturday should be pretty good, as we follow the natural rhythm of the afternoon sea breeze. Ignition is forecast around 2-3 p.m. today and we should rock through into the greatest amounts of showers and storms beyond the 5 o’clock hour.
As we watch for that fateful sea breeze collision, most of our computer models suggest it will bias the eastern sides of our Central Florida peninsula. Some of the stronger thunderstorms could even linger past sunset, which has been a staple for us the last several days.
It should all in all be a great day for outdoor water activities, especially if you have plans to hit the beach. I’d highly recommend you get out there early though, as the sun will be cranking by 9-10 a.m. and will only continue to go up from there.
Rain chances are fairly spotty and low right along our immediate coasts. The interior and eastern counties of the area should see the highest shot for rain and thunderstorms during the second half of Saturday.
Sunday looks like a repeat for all intents and purposes. We’ll have to watch the movement of that front to our north to see how it could influence where our moisture sets up and gives our atmosphere a little nudge in developing some additional storms.
As of its 8 a.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center has highlighted a new area of interest right off the immediate east coast of North Carolina for a low potential of tropical development within the next seven days.
The good news immediately - this will be no threat to Central Florida and is likely to continue on an eastward path away from any major landmass.