Cool/ Breezy This Afternoon, Very Cool Tonight, Warmer Saturday Afternoon

Image shows current temperatures (roughly) at7AM this morning. Lines drawn in are my guess for  high temperatures this afternoon. The Red Line is the 60F isotherm. Temperatures south of that line will reach the lower 60Fs, mid 60s South Florida, with the ultimate warmest temperatures far SW Florida and Keys.

RECAP: Cold front has obviously cleared the state per clear skies, NW wind, and much cooler air. Temperatures this morning varied to near 30F at Crestview through the 30Fs North Florida with mainly mid-40Fs Central and upper 40Fs to low 50Fs South. Melbourne briefly fell into the low 40Fs earlier but has since rebounded a little bit.  


Otherwise, severe weather occurred yesterday over far SE Florida near Ft Lauderdale/Key Biscayne and surrounding areas in the form of strong wind gusts (one report of 70 mph) and two very brief, weak tornadic spin ups. Doesn't appear these were full bore tornadoes, but the circulation was evidently apparent enough to justify the official reports as "tornado".  Attached are some images from local data integration showing a few parameters 'bulls-eyed' far SE Florida at the time of the events.

 The first image is Storm-relative helicity, second is low level shear and surface winds, with the third showing sea level pressure. Granted, the values aren't exact, but the point here is to show that the event that occurred over far SE Florida was significant enough to show up on the network of information feeding into the system's depiction of these parameters.






TODAY: Nice day for the Delta IV rocket launch at 5:57PM (as of this time). Clear sky with the wind beginning to weaken.  The launch pad is located just to the right of the location of the previous Atlas Launch last week (if viewed from the south).  Expect the weather in Cape Canaveral at launch to exhibit a temperature of 57F degrees with a NW wind of 10-15mph under clear skies.


OTHERWISE: We can see from the temperature plot this morning that it was quite cool at daybreak. Expecting most of North Central through South Central and South Florida to be in the low to mid-60s this afternoon with the coolest locations to be near and east of Titusville and north along I-95 and east as well as all of far North Florida.  


As I'm typing a tsunami is expected to impact the Hawaiian Islands in the next MINUTE!  (side note). Horrendous video coming in from Japan of tsunami resulting from the prelim 8.9 Great Earthquake in Japan.


Breezy this afternoon between 11AM - 3:30PM with wind from the NW at 12-20mph, gusts in the 24-28mph range. For some folks yesterday over Central Florida, the temperature didn't get much warmer than it will be today, but yesterday was wet and cloudy, so all in all it might feel nicer today than yesterday out of the wind and in full sunshine. Will feel much cooler in the shade in areas that are in the wind. Winds will die down significantly after 4:00 PM.


TONIGHT: Following the overall coolest afternoon (today), tonight will be the coldest evening with lows in the low-mid 40Fs wide spread, with some mid-upper 30s thrown in North Central toward West Central west of Orlando, as well as some isolated pockets South Central. The immediate A1A corridor should be similar to that of this morning, but extreme South Florida will also feel more of the cold's impact. NW - NNW winds over night in the 5-10mph range east of the intracoastal, weaker far inland. Could find some frost North Central.


SATURDAY: (Side note - waves have begun to arrive at The Islands, impact unknown. It is only about 3AM in the morning in Hawaii at this time).  Saturday will start out as noted above, but warm into the upper 60Fs to lower 70Fs. Clear sky and very light wind. Will assess the potential for cooler conditions along the coast from Canaveral and north, but at time appears the synoptic scale temperature grid/winds compared with the ocean temperatures will be nearly neutral, off setting any sea breeze cooling affects for the most part.  Thankfully, as the air mass will remain dry today through Monday, the winds will be near calm at times offsetting the otherwise increasing Fire Weather threat due to afternoon low humidity values. Soil moisture should have increased as well due to the broad expanse of rains yesterday and the evening before.


BEYOND: Cool mornings continue Sunday and Monday, each day progressively a bit warmer than the day before. Warmest afternoon  temperatures will be first noted over the South Half of the State and the Panhandle, filling in everywhere by Wednesday. No rain foreseen for the next 10 days at least as temperatures return to 'normal'.