Warm! Temperatures will top out near & above 80 Tue. & Wed. afternoon. The greatest weather concerns in the short term are fog & onshore winds. First....the fog which never left the coast Mon. Coastal fog will continue through the night with very low visibility at times...inland fog will also form with areas of dense fog into Tue. morning. Fog will be more patchy Tue. night as southwest winds pick up ahead of an advancing cold front.
Secondly...the onshore winds will keep beaches mild at night but cooler during the day Tue. with late day temps. falling into the 60s. Offshore southwest winds Wed. will bring unseasonable warmth all the way to the coast with widespread 80+ temps. My forecast right now is for 83 Wed. which would fall just short of the daily record high for the date of 85 set in 1989.
Another big storm is set to cross the Central & Eastern U.S. the next couple days. Strong low pressure will move from the Southern Plain to the Great Lakes Tue.-Wed. with a severe storm outbreak & flooding from Texas to Michigan & heavy snow from Kansas to Minnesota, Wisconsin & Upper Michigan. Southwest winds ahead of this storm will help the warm-up for the First Coast & will also bring a band of showers late Wed. & especially Wed. night. My thinking right now is that much of the upper level "energy" (disturbance) will again lift well north of the First Coast leaving the area with a light to moderate band of rain with possibly a few widely scattered heavier thunderstorms. The energy lifting so far to the north + the front waiting to move through until Wed. night all adds up to a low risk of severe storms...still, the situation will have to be watched. There will be the possibility of a widely scattered shower or storm out ahead of the main band of rain late Wed. If these
storms develop, there could be a higher potential for a strong storm or two.
This week is "Hazardous Weather Awareness Week" in Fl. & Ga. The statewide tornado drill for Wed. has been postponed 'til Fri. because of the potential for a few thunderstorms Wed. N.W.S. doesn't want any confusion with actual weather conditions. Today's topic is lightning which kills 10 & injures 40 people per year on average in Fl. Remember the "30-30 Rule"....if you see lightning & count until you hear thunder & don't reach 30, go inside. And wait 30 minutes after the last thunder clap to go back outdoors.
So much snow in one Oregon town, the community is appealing to the state for help. Click here for the CNN story (from local affiliate KGW).
It was one year ago Sat. -- Feb. 2 -- that killer tornadoes struck Central Florida from The Villages to Lady Lake to Paisley to New Smyrna Beach. Click here to read the guest blog from my parents -- snow birds -- written shortly after the tornadoes hit last year. Click here for a local perspective from WESH-TV in Orlando.
