Florida Weather

[MetroMike]

rain area has been weakening as it approaches the coast. lightning has vanished....a quarter inch seems optimistic now.

Yes I was getting so excited around 3pm looking at the radar, but as advertised by forecasters it would weaken. Too bad nothing comes out in favor of heavier rain this year so far.

[SouthFloridian92]

At least we still got some rain. The east coast of FL, especially PSL received quite a bit of rain last night. Okeechobee also.

[TheStormExpert]

Wow! What an impressive airmass for early May, could only imagine what kind of cold temperatures this would bring if it had happened 4-5 months ago.

[psyclone]

It feels like a Fall gale on the great lakes...the winds are really impressive tonight gusting into the 30's here with occasional quick Gulf effect showers thrown in. Tomorrow looks very dicey in the fire weather department with continued wind and very low dewpoints making for a potentially volatile combo.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

Very strong winds tonight gusting in excess of tropical storm force- gusts ranging from 47 mph at st petersburg if Clearwater airport to 59 mph on the beaches. Damage to three roofs in Hernando county. Winds have been howling from midnight to 4 am and are still gusty.

[NDG]

Nice to have the A/C off for a couple of days before the summer heat returns by Monday, dry air lasting through at least Wednesday will make it feel not as bad. Low to mid 90s by mid week

This same time last year we had nice cold front come through, Orlando had lows in the 50s for 6 days in a row.

[TheStormExpert]

Yep I do remember us getting a very late season decent cold front like this around this time last year, either way these dew points are very impressive and dangerously low making for the fire situation extreme. What's even more impressive is seeing on the surface maps how the front is making it's way all the way down into the Caribbean! Where was a front like this 4-5 months ago?

[psyclone]

Very strong winds tonight gusting in excess of tropical storm force- gusts ranging from 47 mph at st petersburg if Clearwater airport to 59 mph on the beaches. Damage to three roofs in Hernando county. Winds have been howling from midnight to 4 am and are still gusty.

My neighborhood is littered with tree debris after last night's blowout which got far worse after I posted. It reminded me of a wake low type event and the winds were comparable to a rain free period that occurred for a few hours during the passage of Hermine. It was very impressive, left quite a mess and was completely unexpected illustrating that we still have plenty to learn in the weather department.

[psyclone]

the Okefenokee smoke plume is the biggest smoke plume I've seen on radar this year....just insane.

[NDG]

Down to 50 F at the Orlando Int'l airport this morning, just 1 degree away from tying a record low.
Heat is returning quicker to Orlando than earlier thought, 90 tomorrow, with mid 90s by the middle of the week. With that kind of heat and still low humidity it will not take much to dry things up really quickly again

[northjaxpro]

the Okefenokee smoke plume is the biggest smoke plume I've seen on radar this year....just insane.

Yes it was psylone. I was in downtown Jacksonville yesterday and the brisk west and northwest wind carried that smoke and ash right over Jax . It completely engulfed the area. It was pretty bad. There is still some smoke this morning, but the winds have abated much more today. These wildfires are only growing and with the conditions drying out more this week, we will continue unfortunately with this problem as time progresses.

[Patrick99]

I guess this is what a tanking NAO in early May gets us. It's been nice, especially in the evening - still a little uncomfortable out in the daytime thanks to that intense May sun.

[psyclone]

based on the low dews, excessive daytime heat and minimal rainfall, it seems reasonable to expect the area of extreme drought, currently centered on Highlands county, to expand north and westward with tomorrow's update. drought issues aside, it's not hard to understand why people enjoy an arid climate. The weather has been very pleasant with very nice evenings and mornings despite the very hot afternoons. it is remarkable how tolerable fairly high temps are when coupled with low dewpoints. at this point it really is a sprint to the rainy season. the sooner the shelf waters warm the sooner we get the requisite evaporation to eventually yield an atmosphere conducive to seabreeze induced convection. Unfortunately we still have a ways to go with no meaningful changes in sight.

[psyclone]

US drought monitor expands the extreme drought northward to include Osceola county which is currently the worst on the KBDI daily map. More extreme heat is expected over that region today. The Gulf seabreeze is really tempering the heat on my side of the state.

[Patrick99]

Humidity is on the upswing here.....mornings are less comfortable than they had been. NWS Miami showing slight chances of storms next week, but it doesn't seem like it is exactly a resounding beginning to the rainy season.....we are probably just going to creep up on it little by little until that one afternoon we start seeing clouds towering over the Everglades.

Wow, south-central Florida and southern Georgia pretty much have the worst drought in the country right now. I'm amazed that the SE metro areas had those couple days of freak downpours to get us out of it.

[gatorcane]

Global models are showing possible lowering pressures across the West-Central Caribbean / Eastern Cuba area in the long-range and maybe spreading up to Southern Florida and Bahamas, this may just jump start the rainy season in south Florida (late next week into the weekend of the 20-21st. That would follow climatology if it happened.

[psyclone]

As much as I'd love to believe that today's 8-14 day outlook shows below normal precip over the Florida peninsula and that's easier to buy.

[NDG]

Orlando is breaking a record for the driest start to a year, ever!
Is shame that the state has not figure out a way to reserve water from a wet year like last year for dry years like this year, we probably have one of the highest water rates in the SE US.

[psyclone]

the reservoir and desalination plant constructed after the great 2001 drought are really helping out the tampa bay area...absent those i'm sure there would be water restrictions.

[NDG]

:uarrow: the reservoir and desalination plant constructed after the great 2001 drought are really helping out the tampa bay area...absent those i'm sure there would be water restrictions.

I wish Orlando would have had a resrvoir off of the St John's river but Jacksonville will not let Orlando tap into the St John's river. Politicians keep raising our water rates scare that we will dry out the FL Aquifer.
$100/month average is what I pay, when I lived in Nola I paid $25/month thanks to an endless supply from the MS river.