The afternoon and evening storms we saw Tuesday will continue for pretty much the rest of the week as we settle into the usual summertime pattern.

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A quick look at the seven-day forecast, and we can certainly see that we are now in the summer wet season. You can expect most days to be sultry with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity levels. That's summer in Central Florida. But, the summer rains are about more than just hot and humid air. You need some mechanism to kick-up the steamy air mass at the surface to achieve the vertical development of clouds that lead to storms during the afternoon. That is where the east and west coast sea breezes come into play. They are thermally driven daily wind circulations that occur as the hot air over land rises and the cool air over the ocean sinks. The cool air moves inland at the surface to replace the warm air that is rising, and the inland moving sea breezes is created. The leading edge of the cooler air is the sea breeze front, and because the cooler air behind the sea breeze front is denser than the warmer air ahead of it, the warm humid air is lifted, resulting in towering cumulus clouds and eventually storms. When the east and west coast sea breezes collide over the peninsula, that is when you really see strong upward motion and that collision is largely responsible for the daily outbreak of late afternoon and early evening thunderstorms.

Many areas managed to accumulate more than 2 inches of rain with strong, slow-moving thunderstorms yesterday, and we’ll be looking at the same type of set up as we move through this afternoon and evening. Once again, any storms could contain heavy downpours that could lead to 2 to 3 inches of accumulation in some areas; along with frequent lightning and some strong downdraft winds gusting to the 35 to 45 mph range.  Most storms should come to an end by midnight, with overnight lows in the middle 70s and some patchy fog possible.

The seasonal summertime pattern continues as we move through the rest of the week.  Highs are forecast to top close to the 90 degree mark for coast areas, with low to mid-90s for the interior.  Heat index readings this week could top out at 103 degrees.  Look for partly sunny skies with afternoon showers and thunderstorms each day, with most showers and thunderstorms occurring in the mid- to late afternoon and then winding down slowly after sunset.

In the tropics, there was little change in the appearance of Tropical Depression 2 today. It continues to produce a small area of convection, and environment ahead of it does not favor strengthening.  As it moves toward the Lesser Antilles, dry air and an increase in shearing winds are expected to lead toward a weakening of the low over the next couple of days.

Tune in for your Tropical Updates at :21 & :51 minutes past each hour.

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