South Florida is finally starting to dry out as tropical rains taper off on Thursday. Look for brief periods of sun, plenty of clouds, passing showers and storms at times, and highs around the 90 degree mark in Miami-Dade, Broward, and the Keys. Showers and storms will be more widespread along the Gulf coast, and highs will be in the upper 80s on Thursday. The risk of dangerous rip currents is high at all South Florida beaches on Thursday.
We’ll transition to a more typical early September pattern on Friday, with sun and clouds, highs in the sticky low 90s, and some afternoon storms, especially in the western suburbs of metro Miami-Dade and Broward, the interior, and the Gulf coast. The risk of rip currents will be high at the Gulf beaches and moderate at the Atlantic beaches on Friday.
That pattern will be in place for the Labor Day weekend, with sun and clouds, a few afternoon storms, and highs in the low 90s on Saturday through Monday. One damper on the holiday weekend will be a high risk of dangerous rip currents at Atlantic and Gulf beaches.
Tropical Storm Hermine is strengthening and is now forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall on Florida’s northern Gulf coast overnight. At 5 am Thursday, Hermine was located near 26.4 North, 86.6 West, and was moving north-northeast at 12 miles per hour. Maximum sustained winds were 60 miles per hour. A hurricane warning is in effect from Cedar Key to Destin. The Big Bend area can expect up to 7 feet of storm surge from Hermine. Parts of northern Florida are already experiencing flooding rains. Hermine is now forecast to track over eastern Georgia and the Carolinas on Friday and Saturday, and what’s left of it could bring stormy weather along the mid-Atlantic and New England coast through the holiday weekend.
Elsewhere, Tropical Depression # 8 has dissipated in the Atlantic. Hurricane Gaston is weakening again as it moves northeast towards the Azores, where a tropical storm warning is in effect for the western portion of the island chain. And the wave that is now west of the Cape Verde Islands still has some chance of developing into a depression over the next 5 days as it moves westward.
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