This afternoon has seen heavy rain dump over St. Petersburg, Sarasota, and Tampa. Radar is showing fewer areas of rain in the Gulf through sunset. Heavy rain has pushed east and more rain will pass through during the later evening hours. Skies are going to be cloudy tonight and Thursday with more scattered showers and storms in the forecast through Friday. Rain chances will be at 70-80% Thursday.
Models forecast up to 2.5" of rain now through Thursday afternoon.
Tonight: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 72. South wind between 7 and 11 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Thursday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. South southwest wind between 7 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible.
Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 73. Southwest wind between 3 and 9 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 90. Calm wind becoming west southwest between 4 and 7 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Friday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. West wind around 5 mph becoming northeast. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Saturday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. East southeast wind between 5 and 7 mph.
Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. Southeast wind between 3 and 5 mph.
Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 91. East southeast wind around 6 mph becoming south southwest.
Meteorologist Bobby Deskins