Rain is scarce now, but that's about to change

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, (WINK) — Showers and storms rolled in as expected this afternoon, with a collision occurring nearest to the eastern borders of Glades, Hendry, and Collier counties. Why do we start with these specifics? That's essentially what we're looking at again for your Friday. With the moisture we still have present over the southern half of Florida, combined with our afternoon breezes coming in off our coastlines, it's a decent set up for isolated afternoon rains and thunderstorms. 

There is a hint of dry air up high in our atmosphere. That helps any tall and growing thunderstorm pack a little more momentum as it rains down on you. So if you do find yourself beneath a heavy rain maker, be on the look out for some potential gusty winds. Lots of lightning and thunder will also be a frequent occurrence in these clusters of storms. 

It's looking a little more positive we may avoid at least some of us ending up inside a heat advisory again tomorrow. We'll have a westerly breeze helping keep conditions just slightly more tame during the afternoon hours. It also looks like we're going to receive a very small dose of continental air from up north wrapping in around a spin that's over Northern Florida this evening. 

We'll do our best to stay out of that heat advisory criteria! Southernmost Florida may not manage to dodge this one though. 

Looking towards the weekend, our high temps in the afternoon remain mostly in the low 90s. Our circulation moving slowly northward out of the state will vacate the local area by Saturday and even more so Sunday which should bring rain chances late in the day a bit lower. Winds will stay primarily out of the southwest, which will allow our Gulf breeze to kick off isolated bouts of showers, rain, and storms mid-day. 

The tropics are trying to wake up yet again! Par the course for the second half of August right? While that's pretty typical, our latest area of interest not so much. NHC tagged a non-tropical entity headed towards Spain and Portugal over the coming days. It looks to try making a go at developing subtropical characteristics before bringing hefty impacts to Western Europe. There's also a chance we see another yellow spot highlighted near the island of Bermuda, and then off the coast of Africa here soon. 

Overall, next week we're watching to see how optimal of a rainy pattern sets up. It's looking promising, and we'll have your extended forecast dialed in as we move through the weekend together.