For the past several days, we’ve had strong onshore wind that has made ocean conditions rough. Several coastal alerts are in effect and will continue into the weekend as gusty wind remains.
The following alerts are in effect for this weekend for our coastal areas:
- Coastal Flood Warning: All the east coast through Saturday afternoon
- Gale Warning: Near and offshore Atlantic waters through Sunday
- High Surf Advisory: All the east coast through Sunday
- High Rip Current Risk: All the east coast through Saturday
Low pressure developing in the Gulf will keep our winds strong and bring the risk for flooding and severe weather to Central Florida. Expect heavy rainfall, gusty winds and rough surf this weekend.
The front that moved through earlier this week has been sitting to our south the past few days. It’s this boundary that will produce an area of low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico late Friday and into Saturday.
Once this low develops, it will get picked up by another system digging into the southeast and pushed toward Florida. This will increase the chance for rain and even bring the possibility for a few stronger storms Saturday into early Sunday.
There is still some uncertainty on the exact track of the low, but models are coming into more agreement that we could see a few severe storms Saturday. All of Central Florida is under a marginal risk for any storm that develops, bringing the chance for wind gusts up to 60 mph.
While the possibility is low, an isolated tornado cannot be completely ruled out either. There’s also a slight risk Saturday for flash flooding. Heavy rain may drop several inches quickly, leading to flooding concerns as this low moves through.
The low will depart the area Sunday afternoon and allow conditions to improve as we head into early next work week.
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