Miami gets a weather change. When will it rain? How hot will it be? And the tropics?
Did you wake to the sound of thunder?
With all apologies to songwriter Bob Seger, if you sat and wondered, “how far off,” the National Weather Service in Miami can tell you: Not far off at all for the next few days.
The expected scattered thunderstorms Friday afternoon and evening will happen again Saturday and Sunday from the Keys to Palm Beach County. And they’ll persist into the workweek, the weather service warns in a hazardous weather outlook.
The strongest of these storms could bring heavy and potentially flooding rain, strong wind gusts topping 40 mph, and a lot of lightning.
Saturday and Sunday look to be the wettest in South Florida with a 60% rain and storm chance. The percentage dips to 50% Monday and 40% Tuesday.
What about that heat?
Sure, when it rains it cools off, a bit. Friday morning in Miami, for instance, was only at 79 degrees.
But the highs are still forecast to reach the upper 80s and 90 degrees for the next week — and beyond. It’s August.
Heat index values — what the temperature will feel like on your body — are expected to be around 105 degrees. At 105, that’s not quite hot enough to trigger a heat warning or alert since those trigger at 108, but it’s high enough to lead to heat stroke and other complications. Be sure to hydrate and avoid long exposure to the direct sun.
What about rip currents?
The rip current risk is expected to increase to high along Atlantic beaches this weekend and into early next week, according to the weather service in Miami.
If you’re headed to the beach — between rain drops, perhaps — swim near a lifeguard.
Watching the tropics
The National Hurricane Center reports all is quiet for now in the tropics. Tropical cyclone activity is not expected for the next 48 hours, meteorologists posted Friday morning.
However, it is August and NOAA said activity should ramp up soon, the Miami Herald reported.
Michael Lowry, WPLG’s hurricane specialist, wrote on his Eye on the Tropics blog that after this weekend’s “gloriously quiet week” ends, “next week, we’ll be tracking the conga line of disturbances lined up over Africa that’ll be rolling into the tropical Atlantic.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2022 at 10:46 AM.
