ORLANDO, Fla. – The National Hurricane Center continues to monitor the northern Gulf just off the coast of Florida’s Big Bend for potential development. Models are still picking up on a surface low pressure forming over the weekend and will help to push a plethora of tropical moisture into Central Florida. Whether this low becomes more organized or stays broad and weak, our rain chances soar leading into the weekend and even early next week.
Friday
Friday will feature a typical sea breeze pattern for our storms. However, with increasing moisture to work with, our sea breeze will be supercharged to develop more widespread showers and thunderstorms. Our Friday will start off with a mix of sun and clouds which will allow temperatures to hit the low-mid 90s before our sea breeze begins developing storms. Our east and west coast sea breezes will begin sparking showers and storms along I-75 and I-95 around 12pm-1pm Friday afternoon. These two will meet near I-4 by 2-3pm. Storms will continue to dance around Central Florida through the evening drive and fizzle around sunset.
This Weekend
Our weather pattern becomes more influenced by this blossoming low over the weekend as our winds out of the southwest drag deeper tropical moisture over Central Florida. Expect off and on downpours Saturday afternoon. We will still see sunshine in between these storms. Sunday storm coverage will increase even more with more consistent downpours, starting late-morning, with mostly cloudy skies. Highs will hit the low 90s with wind gusts 20-25mph.
Next Week
Breezy and stormy conditions continue into next week as tropical moisture lingers over the area. Rounds of rain will persist throughout Monday with breezier conditions. Gusts may get up to 30mph in some of our neighborhoods. As this low gradually pushes north and away from the state by mid-week, our rain chances gradually return to a more typical pattern by next Thursday.
After all is said and done, we expect area-wide rainfall totals to primarily be in the 1-2″ range. Some localized areas may receive even more if caught under a stronger tropical downpour or if storms begin to “train.”