Florida's wild weather has been producing scattered thunderstorms, bringing heavy rain and risk of flooding along with it all week. Today, it seems like all the elements are at work with the addition of racing wind gusts, threatening rip currents, and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes that will leave Florida’s east coast at risk for fire weather, increasing the chance of wildfires.
The National Weather Service’s current hazardous weather outlook stretches from Daytona down to Stuart, the bright yellow areas on the map indicating a risk of cloud-to-ground lightning that stretches farther inland towards Orlando, marine thunderstorms with whipping winds, and fire weather.
The NWS explains that in the case of fire weather, scattered and unstable storms in low-risk areas can still cause low-intensity fires that are able to be contained.
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While the risks for these highlighted areas are currently low to moderate, Floridians are no strangers to how quickly the weather can change in The Sunshine State.
Residents located in impacted areas are encouraged to avoid the shorelines and seek shelter in advance of storms.
National Weather Service Melbourne
Wind gusts of up to 45 mph are expected as the storms move towards the northwest of the state, dumping torrential downpours across Florida that may increase the risk of flooding.
The threat of scattered lightning storms will persist through next week, concentrating further inland as the storms move.
With strong marine gusts come even stronger rip currents.
The risk for rip currents will be present all day across the Central Florida coast, while tidal effects will cause the highest threat from 1 p.m. through 7 p.m.
It seems this weekend might be best spent binging your new favorite Netflix series indoors. Stay safe out there and keep your eyes peeled for more weather updates!