First Alert Weather: Dramatic drop in temperatures and a gusty wind expected today

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - After a cold front passed through overnight, breezy northeast wind will pull in drier and slightly cooler air today.

Our daytime high will be almost 10 degrees cooler and the wind gusts may exceed 30 mph. A small craft advisory is in effect into Friday morning. Skies will become sunny by day and clear by night and by morning lows will bottom out in the mid-50s. Many will consider this a refreshing shift in the weather, given the above-normal temperatures and humid afternoons of the last few days.

The shift in the weather will not last long. Temperatures will start to rise as quickly as tomorrow, when we will return to the lower 80s. By the weekend, our high temperatures will return to the mid-80s and humidity will once more start to rise.

Our dew points in the next few days will be in the 40s and 50s, making the relative humidity much lower. By the weekend the dew points will jump back to the mid-60s.

One thing that will not change will be the lack of rainfall. We remain close to two feet below our normal year to date rainfall. There is nothing on the horizon suggesting any significant change in the near future. We are in an El Nino year, which normally means a wetter than average winter season.

The tropics remain active with one area to monitor in the Caribbean, but no threats to Florida at this time.

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