It’ll soon turn cold again in South Florida. Does that mean the storms will continue?
Sorry to get all Ray Bradbury on you, but something wicked this way comes weatherwise.
Meteorologist Paxton Fell of the National Weather Service in Miami posted a new hazardous weather outlook to alert South Floridians of likely severe thunderstorms on Friday into Saturday.
Late Thursday, parts of Broward were put under a flash flood warning. Early Friday, a street flood advisory was issued for North Miami-Dade and South Broward. And there may be more to come.
“A few of the storms could become strong to even severe over South Florida on Friday,” Fell wrote in an advisory.
That means the possibility of lightning strikes, strong to damaging winds, hail up to the size of a quarter dollar and heavy rainfall. The weather service said it can’t rule out a possible weak tornado, especially over the eastern areas of South Florida that may face the strongest storms.
There is also an elevated rip current risk over the weekend at Atlantic beaches.
So why are storms in the weekend forecast?
Cold front
The chill, though not initially as cold as the low-50s felt earlier this week in South Florida, will kick in Friday night with the upper-60s.
But overnight lows in the upper-30s with minimum wind chills in the mid-30s are possible over inland Southwest Florida Sunday night into Monday morning, according to the Miami weather service.
Thunderstorms could return mid-week ahead of another cold front.
The Florida Keys saw rain already on Thursday morning across the Lower Keys. The wet weather, which spread through South Florida Thursday afternoon, is likely to persist Friday and Saturday on a 50% chance, according to the weather service in Key West.
The Lower Keys from Big Coppitt Key to Key West could see up to a quarter of an inch of rain. Sunday night the low is expected to be around 62 degrees.
Other Florida weather developments
Portions of Northwest Florida were under an advisory warning of a chance of light freezing rain Thursday night into Friday, according to the weather service.
Areas like Pensacola, with lows expected around 35 degrees, are looking at a light glaze of ice from midnight to noon Friday.
Drivers, in particular, should heed the warning.
“Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning commute,” meteorologists with the weather service serving Mobile, Alabama and Pensacola areas said.
Gainesville could also see patchy frost over the weekend as lows hit the freezing mark of 32 degrees on Sunday night.
The weather service offered some driving tips while in icy conditions:
▪ Leave plenty of room between your car and the vehicle ahead of you. Don’t tailgate.
▪ Allow extra time to reach your destination.
▪ Avoid sudden braking or acceleration and be especially cautious on hills or when making turns.
There are currently no weather warnings for the Tampa Bay and Bradenton regions of Florida, but it will be a chilly Sunday night with temperatures in the low 40s, according to the weather service in Tampa Bay.
This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 10:18 AM.
