ORLANDO, Fla. – Christmas Eve has had a few isolated sprinkles of light rain, but that isolated rain pattern soon comes to an end.
An area of low pressure is forecast to move eastward from the Texas, Louisiana area toward the Sunshine State tomorrow. The moisture surging ahead of the next weather maker associated with a warm front, will increase the cloud cover and the rain coverage on Christmas Day.
Rain will begin to fall over western Marion and Sumter counties around 8 a.m., or a little after, and then spread out from there.
By midmorning, the rain will progress to the east reaching Interstate 4 along with a few coastal showers beginning around the same time.
As the morning goes on, the intensity and the coverage of showers goes up.
There will be times of moderate and even heavy downpours. Isolated thunderstorms can’t be ruled out that will be capable of producing lightning and strong gusty winds, but should remain under the severe thunderstorm criteria. Rain chances by the afternoon will rise to 60-70%.
High temperatures will stay in the low-to-mid 70s with the southeast wind gusting around 20 mph throughout the day.
By tomorrow night the coverage won’t be as widespread, however there will still be a few scattered showers that linger, but will be relatively light in rainfall.
The warm front will lift to the northeast as the cold front inches closer to the state by late Monday evening.
Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms will still be in the forecast Tuesday. By Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, the cold front will pass through Central Florida and then continue the southward path reaching south Florida by Thursday.
Slightly drier air will move in behind the front which will help lower the rain chances Wednesday and Thursday.
While the last week of 2023 starts off mild, by late week expect cooler air to arrive.
Get ready to bundle up!
Thursday will be chilly with highs expected to stay in the 60s. A reinforcing cold front will bring even colder air keeping high temperatures in the 50s Friday even with plenty of sunshine around and very little cloud cover. Friday night will be cold with lows in the low 40s around Orlando. Areas to the northwest of the metro will get even colder in the mid-to-upper 30s.
Wrapping up the last weekend of 2023 highs will stay in the 50s and 60s with lows tumbling each night into the 30s and 40s.