JIM VAN FLEET's Blog

keep tracking bertha in our awesome tropical section of the weather part of the website. for now it looks to curve in the open waters of the atlantic and not be a threat for us. it serves as a great reminder for getting ramped up for the busy part of the tropical season though.

our afternoon and evening thunderstorms will be around from 3pm-7pm and winding down for fireworks celebrations tonight. also, drier air has moved in and that will bring the rain coverage down a little bit...but know there will still be some strong thunderstorms out there so watch out for lightning, heavy rain, and some small hail possible.

jim

here we go.....

right now it is barely off of the african coast. it is weak and moving northwest at about 9mph.

it will get stronger, and it looks to curve in the open waters of the atlantic ocean. keep up with us on the forecast track, and be sure and check out our tropical section of this website...it ROCKS!!

right now, not a huge threat, but something to monitor and we will keep you posted.

jim

...was issued for our northern counties, but it is an indication of what to expect through the afternoon.

i expect we will start breaking the "cap" here shortly and see thunderstorms developing. like yesterday there is a small threat of severe weather in the way of hail, straight line winds, and a lot of lightning.

i forecasted a higher coverage of storms for tuesday and wednesday at 60%, and thursday a 50%.

this holiday weekend will be afternoon storms friday at 40% coverage through the afternoon, but clearing out around time for the fireworks to go off.

there may be some wet grounds from earlier storms so be sure and pack tarps and things that can give you a dry "buffer" between the ground and you and your family.

jim

today a 50% coverage is forecasted for the viewing area. most storms will be between 1pm - 7pm.

this weekend if you need dry weather, get out the door early. i am raising the forecast rain coverage to 60% for both saturday and sunday in the afternoon and evening hours.

severe weather threat will be mainly flash flooding, and a chance at some straight line wind damage. the hail threat is minimal but still there for a few more days.

have a great weekend, and have "plan b" ready to go for second half of the day.

jim

early start to thunderstorms for areas northa nd west of orlando. 50%-60% coverage today, and we should see lunchtime storms around sumter, lake, west volusia, marion and alachua counties.

between 12pm - 3pm these storms move into the rest of volusia, seminole, flagler counties.

and then late afternoon look for them in brevard, east orange, and osceola counties.

heavy rain, nasty lighting and thunder, and the chance for a thunderstorm to reach severe limits is possible today.

rain coverage all week will fluctuate between 40% - 60% so be sure and check the 7 day forecast in the weather section.

jim

good afternoon,

we are still watching strong thunderstorms around central florida and a few more rounds will be likely for the rest of the evening.

so far even though we have had a couple thunderstorm warnings there does not appear to have been much in the way of severe weather occuring. with a lot of lightning around though be careful about going outside even after the rain stops. most people are injured by lightning by going out too soon after a thunderstorm has passed.

see ya at 7pm tonight after baseball for you full forecast.

jim

now through the mid-afternoon we will see thunderstorms coming in off the gulf of mexico and roilling through most of our western counties and cities.

once the west coast sea breeze collides with the east coast sea breeze around late afternoon we will see a higher coverage and a lot stronger thunderstorms. lightning should be pretty intense again today and very heavy rainfall will move in and last through 9pm before clearing out.

the next three days i am going to forecast a lower coverage and put the expected rainfall around 30%.

on sunday the forecast will bring the storm coverage back up to around 50%

jim

thunderstorms are growing at a rapid rate as expected in the afternoon heat. a lot of lightning and heavy rainfall are being observed in volusia, flagler, marion, and brevard counties.

this should cross the st. johns river and make its way into the orlando metro and seminole county too in the next few minutes.

some small hail, strong wind gusts, and heavy rain will be the rule for the next few hours. some thunderstorms could easily become severe as the atmosphere is loaded with energy that will make strong to severe storms.

we are in the weather center and will be on the air should these storms reach severe limits to talk you through what to expect.

otherwise our radar section, and severe weather section of this website are also excellant tools to look through and follow the afternoon storms for the remainder of the day.

we should start to clear out around sunset this evening, but we will do it all over again tomorrow with a 50% coverage of t-storms expected once again.

jim

a lot of thunderstorms are being seen offshore and through the afternoon we will see them making there way through central florida again today.

look for heavy rainfall, frequent lightning, and some small hail are all likely through the day. we saw golfball size hail yesterday in seminole county around altamonte springs, so the atmosphere is set up for severe thunderstorms and not just showers.

we will keep the coverage high through thursday at around 50% - 60% coverage before friday dropping it back down to 30%.

keep checking the radar, and we will keep it updated all day long!

jim

each and everyday this week we will have a thunderstorms in central florida. the forecast will be for around a 40% - 50% coverage every day this week.

take you rain gear with you each day and keep track of the radar on the weather section of myfoxorlando.com

these thunderstorms will bring heavy rain, lightning, and some small hail is possible in the afternoon storms.

as if that weren't enough, with light winds and high's in the low 90's the heat index will be around 100-102 in the peak heat of the afternoon.

jim

the coverage is not impressive but i will forecast some thunderstorms through today. it should only be about 20% at any given time, but if you are the ones under the storm, it will be a small mighty thunderstorm with lightning and heavy rain.

the weekend will keep us hot with only an isolated thunderstorm at 10% coverage both days.

jim

all of us will feel the heat for the next seven days ( actually more like through october...i'm just sayin'! ) with highs in the 90's.

there will be a 30% coverage of the storms from around 4pm - 8pm in the sections of the state between I-75 and I-4.

then we will only see a small coverage around 10% - 20% through early next week.

stay hydrated, and stay cool!

jim

this tropical depression is actually a good thing because it is going to draw attention to the fact that it is time to prepare and get ready for the upcoming hurricane season.

the only thing it might do to us weather is enhance tropical moisture to help trigger some thunderstorms in a week or so, and that's it....nothing to be concerned with.

so in the meantime...hot and only isolated thunderstorms is about all we can expect!

check out the tropical tracker section in our weather section of the website....it is way cool, and much more fun playing around with that than actually doing work! ha!

take care,

jim

it will stay breezy on the coast today and also we will forecast quick stray showers through the day.

yes the winds will allow the rip currents to stay strong through the middle of the week, so please be careful swimming around the beaches for the next few days.

otherwise just a stray shower is all we can forecast until about sunday when i will raise the coverage up to 40%.

jim

take your rain gear again and be ready for a 60% coverage of thunderstorms both today and tomorrow. should be a later start tomorrow but a lot of you today we will get going by early afternoon with the storms.

after saturday storms, there will be beautiful weather for both sunday and monday. only a stray shower, but mainly nice temps and lots of sunshine!

have a safe and fun weekend!

jim