The fairly dry weather over much of central Florida the last several weeks as not out of the ordinary -- afterall, with the end of the rainy season/sea breeze storm season in early October, our rain chances have essentially been limited to just the occasional winter-time cold front moving across the area. It has been drier than average though, typical of a La Nina winter that features a northward displacement of the jet stream. It's this northward displacement of the jet stream that has kept the storm track well to our north, limiting rain chances and keeping temperatures warmer than average.

Making matters worse, behind an arctic cold front temperatures -- and humidity levels -- plunged over the weekend. At one point yesterday afternoon, much of the area west of I-95 had humidity levels below 25%. This, coupled with wind gusts over 20 mph and the dry soil/vegetation, helped promote several fires across the eastern half of the area. Today, the wind was still gusty at times, but it was more of an easterly breeze. With the wind coming off the water, the humidity was higher and we only saw one new, significant fire develop. This fire, located in east Orange County, sent smoke as far west as I-4 in Orange County; with the sun setting, smoke will be less of an issue into Orlando but will still be thick at times near the fire in east Orange.

Not much in the way of rain is in the forecast over the next several days. We have a weakening cold front scheduled to move through late Wednesday with just a 30% chance of rain. Most of the rain with this next front will push out into the Atlantic and away from central Florida. Any rainfall with the front will be fairly limited and light. Behind the front, several days of dry weather are in the forecast through next weekend.

Brian Monahan