ORLANDO, Fla. – One more round of scattered afternoon storms is expected across Central Florida on Tuesday before the forecast shifts toward fewer rain chances and increasing heat through the rest of the week.
TUESDAY & WEDESDAY
Scattered to locally numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop this afternoon as the east and west coast sea breezes collide, with the greatest coverage once again focused near and east of Orlando.
A few storms could become strong, producing frequent lightning, wind gusts between 45 and 55 mph, and heavy downpours. Because storms will move slowly, isolated areas could pick up enough rain to cause minor flooding in low-lying or poor drainage locations.
Outside of the storms, afternoon temperatures will climb into the low to mid 90s.
By Wednesday, drier air begins moving into Central Florida, reducing storm coverage while allowing temperatures to climb even higher. Many inland communities will reach the mid 90s, and there’s a growing chance that areas near and north of the Interstate 4 corridor could see highs approach the upper 90s.
LATE WEEK
An even drier pattern settles in Thursday as another plume of Saharan dust moves across the region. While a few isolated showers remain possible, many communities could stay dry. Rain chances are expected to slowly return this weekend, especially south of Orlando on Friday before becoming more widespread Saturday into early next week.
The bigger story will be the heat.
High temperatures are forecast to reach the upper 90s across many inland communities near and north of Interstate 4 from Thursday through the weekend, with mid-90s expected farther south and low to mid-90s along the coast. Combined with Florida’s humidity, heat risk will continue to increase, with widespread Major Heat Risk and pockets of Extreme Heat Risk possible by late week.