Florida faces a ‘bumpy night’ as wind advisories and severe thunderstorm warnings go up
“Fasten your seat belts — it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
In Florida, the National Weather Service is going all Bette Davis in “All About Eve” and there’s a good reason for quoting the line from the 1950 film classic.
Parts of the state — especially northern Central Florida, the Glades and Lake Okeechobee areas, but to a certain degree South Florida — are expecting “isolated, damaging wind gusts” and strong thunderstorms, said meteorologist Paxton Fell at the National Weather Service in Miami.
On Thursday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in both directions in Tampa Bay due to severe weather, WFLA NewsChannel 8 reported. Winds exceeded 40 mph.
Isolated tornadoes can’t be ruled out overnight in Glades County, the weather service said. Wind gusts in some areas, including Orlando, could reach just about 5 mph less than hurricane-force winds.
Storms arrival
These storms, which could bring tropical storm-force winds to the Orlando and Bradenton/Tampa Bay areas, are expected to batter Florida in Friday’s wee hours — around 1 a.m. in Orlando and 4 a.m. in South Florida — when most people will be sleeping, Fell said.
But the weather service has already issued a wind advisory alert from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday in South Florida. Wind gusts in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach could hit 35 mph. Tree limbs could be blown down and power outages are possible. The weather service suggests taking unsecured objects inside.
A wind advisory has not been issued for the Florida Keys, but rain chances are 90% in the overnight hours, with gusts possible to 30 mph.
In the Orlando area, gusts could hit 60 to 70 mph, the National Weather Service in Melbourne said in a wind advisory and hazardous weather outlook issued Thursday morning.
Given the expectations for extreme weather in the Jacksonville area later Thursday, Duval County Public Schools canceled all after-school activities, according to News4Jax.
Approaching cold front
These thunderstorms — a 90% chance in northern Central Florida and 80% in South Florida — are preceding an approaching cold front that will pull temperatures down into the upper 50s and low 60s. Once the front passes through, temperatures climb back to the mid-70s Friday afternoon and into the weekend.
“It’s not going to be super cold,” Fell said of the expected temperature range associated with the front. “We are returning to what they should be for this time of year. Right now we are above normal. For the Miami area, about 5 or so degrees above normal for high temperatures. And low temperatures are anywhere from 5 to 8 degrees above normal.”
It’s the warnings of the severity of the storms in the overnight hours, Fell said, that people need to heed.
The severe storms are not unlike those that tore through South Florida last Friday night during Super Bowl 54 parties and events. The storm chance has just bumped up from 70% to 80% for the area compared to earlier forecasts given on Tuesday.
“The more severe storms are expected to stay to the north — more so the Glades County, Lake Okeechobee area, mostly on the west coast — with the rest of South Florida in a generic thunderstorm risk,” Fell said.
Lingering storms, rip currents
Lingering storms could trouble Friday morning’s commute but should clear out shortly afterward.
Not surprisingly, there is a high risk of rip currents from 7 a.m. Thursday through Friday evening at coastal Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County beaches.
“Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water,” the National Weather Service said.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 10:25 AM.
