Weekend Weather Rollercoaster! 

And, so, the rollercoaster ride begins! After temperatures in the 80s the last couple of days, clouds and showers -- along with a weakening, stalling front -- knocked temperatures down into the 70s this afternoon across central Florida. That cold front, which has become stationary tonight across the area (and has all sorts of wiggles and wobbles in it across the peninsula), was the focus for showers today and will keep our weather mostly cloudy with occasional showers tonight. We'll also have plenty of low clouds around the area as well, with areas of fog developing by daybreak. The rain that fell Friday was certainly not very heavy, though, with all of central Florida receiving under a tenth of an inch!

As a strong upper level disturbance ejects out of the southwestern United States, a strong area of low pressure and cold front will develop across the western Gulf of Mexico. This low, and its track across the central Gulf coast region into the southeast, will be the focus for the potential for severe weather over the next day or two -- but north of our area. Now, to the changes coming!

• Saturday morning: Our stationary front will lift to the north as a warm front. Expect lots of low clouds with areas of fog, even a few spotty showers.
• Saturday afternoon: Clouds will break apart from south to north and we're in store for a big warm up. Temperatures that start in the 60s will warm into the low to mid 80s, especially across our southern counties! As the front lifts to the north, coupled with some energy aloft, there could be one or two strong storms mixed in across our northeast counties. The chance of rain overall, though, is just 20%.
• Sunday through midday: A stronger cold front will move through but the bulk of the upper level energy will pass to our north. We'll start the day very mild with lows in the mid 60s. We'll have a 30% chance of rain into midday as the cold front moves through.
• Sunday mid to late afternoon: We'll clear out rapidly as the storm system and its accompanying front lifts well north of the area. It will turn very windy with wind gusts perhaps as high as 40 mph!

Cooler (and much tamer!) weather settles in for early next week with temperatures Monday returning to near 70 degrees with lots of sun.

Have a great weekend!

Brian Monahan