Coastal Drought Conditions Grow

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - The latest update for drought conditions has the extreme drought area expanding from the coastal Suncoast to further inland. Rain chances are spiking as moisture returns in the atmosphere, however most of the rain will develop east of I-75 and inland. As the extreme drought along the coast continues, the conditions inland have greatly improved with almost all of Hardee and DeSoto counties no longer showing drought conditions.

Friday morning the low will be in the upper 70s near the coastal cities and mid 70s inland. Expect sunshine for most of the morning and afternoon with highs in the low 90s. The dewpoints will remain in the mid 70s, raising the heat index to around 105 degrees in the mid afternoon. Then storms are expected to develop in the late afternoon and early evening, helping to cool down the hot temperatures. Most of the rain will also remain east of the coast.

In the tropics, a disturbance off the coast of West Africa will likely develop into a tropical depression within the next two days. If it develops, it is not expected to affect the western coast of Florida. Meanwhile, Hurricane Lee is a category one hurricane and is expected to weaken into a tropical storm before making landfall. The majority of models have Lee landing in Nova Scotia, Canada, near the border of Maine, Saturday evening to Sunday morning. The next named tropical storm would be called Nigel.

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