A Tropical Threat Ahead This Week
Summer-like warmth isn’t going away so easily. We still have at least another day ahead with temps still climbing into the lower to mid 90s for highs. There will be changes coming as a frontal boundary and tropical system converge on the region and increase our rain chances Wednesday through Friday.
In the meantime, you can keep the short pants and flip flops in the wardrobe for Tuesday. High pressure will continue to help keep us hot and mainly dry. Temps will manage lower to mid 90s for highs through Tuesday afternoon. A few spots may snag 90 degrees Wednesday but the rest of the week temperatures will be trending downward. A frontal boundary moves into the state and our rain chances begin to climb. An increase in clouds and rain coverage will take a dent out of the heat.
Another player in our weather will be the tropical system taking shape in the northern Caribbean. National Hurricane Center has designated the system as potential tropical cyclone #9. The forecast track brings it into the gulf and has it making landfall as a major hurricane Thursday evening. Right now, looks like a landfall would be somewhere between Panama City Beach and Tampa. It seems more likely around the Big Bend area of Florida’s western coast. The system then moves into Georgia and that puts us on the western side of the circulation. It’s the better side to be on but there can still be several impacts. We’re expecting heavy rainfall and gusty winds to reach our area with the greater impacts across our eastern counties. Rainfall potential of 3 to 5 inches and wind gust 30 to 40 mph will be possible Thursday into early Friday.
