ORLANDO, Fla. – A severe thunderstorm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Jacksonville at 2:27 p.m. for parts of Marion County was allowed to expire at 3:15 p.m.
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Saturday will behave much like Friday did with the dry start and mainly dry evening book-ending a stormy middle of the afternoon. The highest storm chances will be around from about 2 p.m. through 6 p.m.
A few storms could be strong with isolated damaging wind and torrential rain.
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Expect storms to move in from the west off of The Gulf of Mexico, gradually increasing in coverage. The storms will continue to push east through the middle of the afternoon.
This storm motion will help to keep rain and storm chances elevated on the coast, which has largely missed out on widespread rain for the bulk of the summer.
Be on the lookout for localized flooding with heavy rain falling on saturated ground from the past few days.
Beach forecast:
Storm chances increase along the coast late in the afternoon and early evening, but the first half of your beach day should be dry with sunshine. Do be mindful of a very high rip current risk along the east coast beaches through the weekend. Sunday will look very much like Saturday at the beach.
Tropics update:
Saturday marks the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. Earl will likely become post-tropical in the North Atlantic over the weekend. The only other area to watch is currently over Africa and has a low chance of developing once it emerges over the Atlantic this weekend. There are no threats to Florida or the U.S.
Hurricane season runs through November.
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