Summer pattern continues through the holiday weekend

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - The big 3 day weekend is here and we will continue to see late afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms scattered throughout the area as we head into Labor Day weekend. We will see generally sunny skies in the mornings followed by partly cloudy skies by mid afternoon as the sea breeze develops.

Now there is a chance for a few mid afternoon storms as the sea breeze moves inland but the better chance for coastal storms will be during the evening hours on Saturday.

Temperatures will warm into the low 90′s with a heat index ranging from 99°-105° during the mid afternoon through 5 p.m. The rain chance for those late day storms is at 50% for each afternoon through Labor Day.

The forecast for the shortened work week next week is calling for more of the same with scattered late day storms otherwise mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies expected. Temperatures will be near the averages which are 90° for a high and 75° for a low.

The first hurricane of the season has formed in the north central Atlantic and is going to stay there for a few days before it heads off to the NE into the cooler waters of the NE Atlantic.

Another area of concern is a couple hundred miles east of Puerto Rico in the Atlantic. This disturbance is expected to move to the NE and then eventually off toward the north over the course of the next 5 days. It is likely it will develop into the next named storm which is Earl. It looks as though that system will stay well away from Florida at this time.

Elsewhere there is not a lot going on in the tropics as a result of dry air and wind shear.

For boaters look for winds out of the east at 5-10 mph and turn to the WSW later in the day as the sea breeze moves inland. Seas will be less than 2 feet and a light chop on the bays and inland waters can be expected.

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