Thursday, May 23, 2013  

We experienced one more day of widespread showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday, before drier begins to work into the region later today and tomorrow, improving our weather pattern for the holiday weekend.  The low pressure system that has kept stormy conditions over the area this week is beginning to weaken and pull away, this will begin reducing some of the energy available in the atmosphere to produce storms today, subsequently reducing the chance of rain beginning this afternoon.  There is still plenty of moisture available through a deep layer of the atmosphere, so we will not completely remove the chance for rain from the forecast until the weekend.  The lower rain chances also means less cloud cover and that will also allow for increased temperatures for the remainder of the work week. 

Overnight, expect skies to slowly clear to partly cloudy and then clear by sunrise, along with muggy conditions and some areas of misty low clouds and fog.  With the nearly saturated air mass in place over the region, overnight low temperatures will only fall into the upper 60s and lower to middle 70s.  Today, winds will be light and variable and weaken as the low levels of the atmosphere remains quite humid.  This will keep sticky and uncomfortable conditions in the forecast for most of the day.  Enough moisture hangs around to produce a chance for late day showers and storms, although coverage of storms today will be lower than in recent days. Highs will reach the middle to upper 80s along the coast, with the lower 90s over the inland counties. 

By the end of the week, a weak late-season frontal boundary moves through Central Florida.  In the wake of the frontal passage, drier air moves in for the upcoming weekend.  Rain chances fall off to 20 percent for Friday with the best chance for rain south of Orlando and highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s under partly cloudy skies.  Weather should be mainly dry, but still quite warm over the three-day holiday weekend, with highs in the middle to upper 80s.