Beryl Brings More Rain Today!

Tropical Storm Beryl made landfall this morning, just after midnight in Jacksonville Beach. Winds just off-shore before landfall were at 70 miles per hour. It was very close to hurricane strength at that point.

Some peak wind gusts in Flagler county reached 40 miles an hour. That was certainly tropical storm strength. Winds for Inland areas including Orange county reached more than 30 miles an hour at times.

More bands of rain will move into Central Florida as Beryl moves farther inland and weakens. Later this afternoon some of those bands will bring stronger storms with wind and lightning. Depending on how hot we get later today, and how much sun breaks out, be could see more strong storms with rotation. Track the storms with radar here:

http://orlando.justweather.com/radar/

Expect a 70% chance for more on and off rain and storms into the early evening. We’ll heat up to 90 degrees today by 4pm.

Beryl will make a turn back to the Northeast tomorrow. Here’s the latest track:

 A trough of low pressure will help to steer the storm along the Carolina coast into the middle part of the week. Stay tuned.

Rain…Rain and MORE Rain!

Remember that song you used to sing as a child? “Rain…rain…go away…come again another day…!” Some people in Central Florida may be singing that as we head into the weekend.

 

I’m guessing most of us are happy about the rain though. After weeks of dry weather and dry yards, we’ve been asking for the skies to open up. More rain is on the way for this afternoon. The coverage, like yesterday afternoon, is up to 70 percent! There will be a chance for a few stronger storms with wind and lightning.

The timing, once again, isn’t so great. We’ll see rain move in just in time for the afternoon drive home. By the weekend rain chances will decrease a bit. Take a look at the planning forecast!

http://orlando.justweather.com/

Saturday, we’ll see a 40 percent coverage of rain. By Sunday, rain chances drop to 30 percent. Highs stay near 90 degrees into next week. Have a great day!

Tracking the Tropics??? And…Rain chances increase.

What? You ask. The hurricane season doesn’t begin until June first! It’s not uncommon to have a couple of systems develop even before the season starts, but this is barely even a thunderstorm.

Waaaay out in the eastern Atlantic there is a small area of thunderstorms associated with a non-tropical low. It’s about 460 miles west-southwest of the southern Arores Islands.  Here’s the latest:

http://orlando.justweather.com/hurricane/

It continues to weaken in cooler waters. Even if it were able to develop, it is moving east, away from the U.S.

The big story for us, is the increase in rain chances over the next few days. An upper level low is moving in, bringing a 60% coverage this afternoon and evening. Rain chances stick around into Friday as they taper off. Here’s your forecast.

http://orlando.justweather.com/

By the weekend, we’re looking dry! Highs are below average today because of the added clouds and rain. We heat back up near 90 tomorrow through the weekend. Have a great day!

Thanks “Mother Nature” and…Don’t Forget MOM! ; )

We’ve really gotten in on some good rain for the last couple of days.  Some spots saw more than an inch and a half yesterday alone. The rain that moved in yesterday and Monday was not nearly as much as we needed to make a dent in that deficit though. 

In fact, we’re still nearly six inches below normal for rainfall totals in Orlando since January 1st. Daytona Beach is even worse. There’s a deficit of almost seven inches for Volusia county.

We’ll get a little more help in the rain department from Mother Nature today, as the west coast sea breeze fires up into the afternoon. It will push showers and thunderstorms from west to east into Volusia, Brevard and Flagler counties.

Thanks “Mother Nature”, but what about MOM? Mother’s Day is this Sunday.

We really don’t want rain for her special day. Rain chances are only at 20% for Sunday. Looks like the weather will hold out just fine for Mom’s big day. Here’s your forecast:

http://orlando.justweather.com/

Expect a couple of splash and dash showers into Sunday afternoon with highs near 86 in many areas.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY Mom!

Air That You Wear!?

If you were outside at all this morning, you know EXACTLY what I mean here.

We know a thing or two about humidity here in Central Florida… right? It’s something we can feel most of the time.  After a couple of weeks with dry air on top of us, we can really feel the difference now.

We were under the influence of northerly winds around an area of high pressure that brought in dry air. It was nice! Everyone was talking about how great it was to get outdoors!

Now when I do the forecast in the morning, I sound a little like the character on Saturday Night Live from a few years ago. Remember Debbie Downer? Haha. She would say something really depressing and the music would follow. It was sort of like: “Waaaaa Waaaaahhhhhh!”

With humidity levels up in the 90 percent range and dew-points near 70 degrees in the early morning, IT IS STICKY out there.

It’s mainly because of a strong wind from the East, bringing moisture from the ocean. That wind has certainly been gusting as of late. Yesterday we had wind gusts near 30 miles per hour across Central Florida. The trees we swaying for sure.

We’ll see more of the same for the next couple of days. Winds today will gust near 25 miles per hour. The good thing is that the wind is too strong to allow moisture to “settle” in the form of dense fog.

If the wind calmed down a little, we would have some problems on the roads. Visibilities this morning at around 6 o’clock were near a quarter of a mile in areas near Gainesville. We had some fog this morning in northern and central Marion county.

In the coming days we’ll have to add a few degrees to the actual temperature because of the added humidity in the air. Expect a slight “heat index” or a hotter “real-feel” temperature. Here’s your forecast:

http://orlando.justweather.com/

We haven’t quite hit the wet season for Central Florida yet. There are no major systems moving in. That’s why we’ll only see a 10% chance for a couple of pop-up showers into the weekend.  Have a great day. See ya starting a 5am on The Local 6 Morning News.

What’s up with a “Cold Blast” in late April…in Florida?

Central Floridians are waking to a bit of a shock this morning (not if they had seen my forecast yesterday, but I digress).

A Front brought some much-needed rain this past weekend. Behind the front, cooler, drier air is building in. It’s a little late in the year for a front to bring such drastic temperature changes.

The same system that brought the rain this weekend is moving through the northeastern U.S. today. Areas from New England to Maine, and into the Great Lakes are seeing rain, wind, ice and snow.

We’re not seeing anything like that, but high pressure is building in. It’s bringing a strong northwest wind. Yesterday, wind gusts reached 35 miles per hour across Central Florida. Today we’ll have a breeze near 25 miles per hour.

This morning, we broke a record in Melbourne. The record was 50 degrees set back in 1998. We dropped to 47 degrees, setting a new record. The normal high temperature for Orlando is 84. We’ll only warm to 74 this afternoon.

Expect a couple of chilly mornings before we heat back into the upper 80s by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

Hot for Now…Some Relief Soon!

What a great Easter weekend… right? I was lucky enough to have an extended Easter weekend. I got to spend some time with my family out-of-town.

 It’s great to see little cousins having fun at an awesome Easter egg hunt in the dry air and sunshine. We even played a little baseball. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a swing at the bat! It was so much fun.

Now it’s back to reality, and back to the heat! At least for a little while. The normal high temperature for Orlando is 82 degrees. Today and tomorrow, we’re warming to 86! There will be a fairly dry front that moves in on Wednesday that will cool us down a little bit. We’ll warm to 79 Thursday. Take a look at the forecast.

http://orlando.justweather.com/

Rain chances are at only 20 percent today and tomorrow. After that, we’re in for a long period of dry weather. The fire threat will continue into next week.

Have a great day!

Do you have “Spring Fever”?

Let’s ALL go on Spring Break! I guess I wouldn’t go THAT far. I’m a little too old for all that.

This weather is giving a lot of us here in Central Florida “Spring Fever” though. People are all over the place every afternoon. Most are getting out with shorts on and flip-flops. I keep asking myself: “Don’t these people have to work”.  I guess they must be “Spring Breakers”.

Across the country high temperature records are breaking everywhere. Here at home, we’ll be running about 6 degrees above the average by Friday (Not quite a record). Yesterday in Orlando we made it up to 81 degrees. The average high is 78. Today expect 83.

After a pretty ugly weekend last weekend, we’re ready to get out and enjoy this Spring-like weather. I say Spring-like, because Spring doesn’t actually arrive until next Tuesday (at 1:14am to be exact). It certainly already feels like Spring in Central Florida.

St. Patrick’s Day is this Saturday. It’s a holiday that always reminds me that Spring is almost here. That little wacky leprechaun always seems to have something up his sleeve, don’t you think?

Here’s a look at the forecast for the days ahead. Notice no real rain chances.

So, put on the sunscreen and head to the beach, or just don your green and start searching for that pot of gold. Have a good one!

 

It’s Looking Up for Bike Week!

 

Get your motor runnin’! After an ugly weekend, things are looking up for bikers in Daytona Beach this week.

The area of low pressure that brought this weekend’s rain is moving out. Today, We’ll see a little more sun breaking through the clouds, as drier air builds into the upper levels of the atmosphere. Here at the surface, winds will still kick up. Expect East wind gusts up to 25 miles per hour along the coast and for inland areas.  This strong wind will begin to weaken this week.

There are concerns at the beaches today. With spring breakers in town, it could be a dangerous mix.

Those strong winds that we’ve been tracking for a few days will be kicking up seas between six to nine feet at times.  There is a small craft advisory, and the rip current risk is high. The water temperature at Daytona Beach is 70 degrees. If you choose to get into the water, make sure you stay near lifeguards and check with them often.

Highs this week along the coast will be in the mid and upper 70s. Inland areas, including Orlando, will warm into the lower 80s.  Expect some rain chances by Wednesday. We’ll keep an eye to see if those rain chances will be bumped up a bit. Stay tuned.

It’s like the Movie…”Groundhog Day”! More…Fog!

I feel a little like Bill Murray’s character in the movie “Groundhog Day”.  Here we go again! We’re tracking MORE fog. In fact, we will likely see dense fog for the next few days.

With plenty of moisture trapped in the atmosphere, and very light winds across Central Florida, fog is a real problem. Here are some photos I took at around 2:45 this morning in downtown Orlando.

This one was taken more than 20 floors up. Of course, the fog was worse up that high. You can’t even see the building next door!

Here’s Lake Eola. You can’t even see the fountain!

Visibilities for the last couple of days have been very low. Down to less than a quarter of a mile in most areas. Our crews driving around area roads this morning were reporting visibilities at less and one hundred FEET in some areas.

Fog formed as early as last evening in some spots. It only got worse from that point.

There is a Dense Fog Advisory for most of Central Florida until 8am today. Northern counties are under the advisory until 10am. The only county in Central Florida that is not included in the advisory is Brevard. Even there, we are seeing some patches of dense fog.

With conditions staying the same for the coming days, fog will continue to develop.    

With plenty of sun to burn off the fog. The 10 o’clock hour looks to be the best time to expect visibilities to get much better. With sunny skies this afternoon, we’ll warm into the mid 80s for most of Central Florida today and into Saturday. By Sunday, a new system cools us down into the low 70s. Next week, temperatures are back to normal, in the mid 70s. Morning low temperatures drop back down into the 50s next week. Take a look:

http://orlando.justweather.com/#lightbox=p187&tab=w592lb