Storms are continuing to push across the area from the west from St Petersburg northward. Another line of storms is now in the NE Gulf of Mexico. This line is moving quickly southward and will likely affect Citrus and Hernando counties by 3 pm. I am wathcing this line as it will also help to spread a few storms southward to the Tampa area by 5 pm. Bottom line, if you are headed out this afternoon, plan on running into a storm or two.
The tropics are beginning to wake up. A wave over the Dominican Republic is moving WNW and will likely end up over Florida by the weekend. I am not expecting this wave to develop, but I do expect it to raise our rain chances to at least 50% this weekend including some heavy downpours.
A second tropical wave is located east of the windward islands and is showing some signs of development. This wave has been labeled 99L by the NHC and currently has a 20% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next 2 days. Modeling generally takes the system to the WNW into the Caribbean by Friday and mainly south of Puerto Rico. Although many models do not develop the system very much, there is an outside chance that it could become a tropical storm and affect Barbados by the Friday.
Today: Scattered afternoon and early evening storms, more widespread coverage over Citrus County. Winds will blow W 10 mph with a high of 91.
Tonight: Partly cloudy and mild with lows near 80 at the beach and low 70s inland.
Meteorologist Bobby Deskins