Bob Harrigan
Chief Meteorologist
Sarasota, FL
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ABC 7's Chief Meteorologist Bob Harrigan has been forecasting Suncoast weather for more than 30 years. You can watch Bob's forecasts weekdays at 5 pm, 5:30 pm, 6 pm, 7pm, and 11 pm.
Bob graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in Atmospheric science. Before coming to Sarasota in 1985, Bob worked for the National Weather Service as a weather observer, and as an instructor in weather forecasting and micro-computer classes at the University of Kansas.
Bob has a unique perspective on Hurricanes. He was able to experience the power of these storms close up. In 1996 he flew into the eye of a 115 mph hurricane named Bertha aboard the famed Hurricane hunter aircraft. In 2004 he boarded NOAA's hurricane hunter aircraft, the P3 Orion, and flew into an even stronger storm named Ivan. Strong storm systems can pop-up quickly here on the Suncoast, and Bob always makes sure viewers are armed with knowledge to help them get through severe weather when it threatens our area.
Bob has been voted by the Bradenton Herald readers as the "Best Television Meteorologist" in the Tampa bay area over 5 times. He has also been voted the "Best Television Personality" by Sarasota Magazine many times and recently 3 in a row from 2014 through 2017.
Besides weather Bob enjoys playing golf and fishing. In fact you can catch his fishing segment "Fishin' with Bob and Capt. Jonnie" on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and again on Friday's 5:30 newscast.
Bob volunteers his time with countless non-for profit organizations, raising money and awareness for some wonderful causes. He provides valuable hurricane and severe weather seminars each year for Suncoast residents. "The Suncoast is the lightning capitol of North America, and it's essential for survival to know safety tips that can save lives."
Bob has been designated a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the American Meteorological Society.
Additionally, Bob Harrigan has been recognized by Bradenton-Sarasota's Spark Growth as an area "Thought Leader" and was a featured panelist for their talk about technology, weather, and the future.
Bob resides in Bradenton with his wife Susan and daughter Emma Grace.
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Drier air is slipping into our area thanks to Ophelia as it moves into North Carolina. The air on the back side of this storm is very dry and is filtering into Florida lowering the humidity and keeping the sunshine in the forecast on Saturday.
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Some much needed rain has fallen across parts of the Suncoast over the past couple of days. Those rain chances will be going down as some drier air gets pushed into our area on Friday.
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Some much needed rain fell over a large area on Wednesday and we will see another round on Thursday as an old front and a low pressure starts to spin up just offshore of Jacksonville.
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A frontal system draped over SW Florida will be the catalyst for an area of low pressure to develop off the coast of Jacksonville this Friday.
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We will see a fairly good east wind to start the day on Tuesday this in combination with a sea breeze expected to hug the coast so we will have a pretty good chance for scattered mainly late afternoon and early evening thunderstorms on Tuesday.
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A frontal boundary over N. Florida will continue to squeeze moisture into our area and bring a good chance for scattered storms on Saturday.
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Over the next two days don’t expect to see much rain as the rain chances stay at fairly low at 20% on Wednesday and 30% on Thursday.
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In the tropics hurricane Lee is looking a lot healthier this evening and should stay as a major category 3 hurricane on Tuesday if not a little stronger. It is forecast to start its move to the north Wednesday.
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A mid level low will continue to bring a chance for a few showers and a possible thunderstorm on Saturday but that rain chance is fairly low at 40% mainly inland later in the day.
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All eyes are on hurricane Lee as it has rapidly developed into a category 4 hurricane in an unprecedented time frame on Thursday. Only one other storm has done it faster so far and that was Wilma in 2005 when it went from a 60kt. storm to a 150kt. storm in 24 hours off the coast of the Yucatan.
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Most models are in agreement that it will continue to move to the WNW over the next 5 days and then turn more toward the north after that keeping it away from Florida and moving it toward Bermuda or slightly to the west of the Island. It is too early to say whether it will directly impact the east coast but it bears watching down the road late next week.
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n the tropics we are monitoring the 12th named storm of the season tropical storm Lee. It is located in the south central Atlantic right now and is expected to keep moving to the WNW at around 15 miles per hour.
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After Friday we will see some drier air begin to move in as the winds turn more toward the NE. Friday expect to see a good chance for a few showers and an isolated thunderstorm during the morning along the coast and then anywhere during the afternoon with the main focus well east of I-75.
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With high pressure continuing to build in over Florida we will see below average rain chances on Thursday and should stick around through Sunday.
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We will remain under the influence of high pressure and dry air sweeping into our area through Saturday so don’t expect to see much rainfall over the course of the next several days.
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With tropical storm Harold expected to move into Texas on Tuesday we will see some dry air filter in behind the system. This will bring our rain chances way down to only 20% over the next 5 days.
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As the front fades to our north high pressure builds in behind it and keeps a tropical disturbance moving west away from Florida. We will see winds out of the SE at 5-10 mph to start the day off. This will bring a good chance for showers and scattered thunderstorms during the late afternoon and early evening as they move from inland areas toward the Gulf of Mexico.
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It has been 3 days since our last heat advisory and it looks like 4 in a row on Friday. With a front located to our north and with some weak disturbances moving in from the Gulf we can expect to see scattered showers and thunderstorms at anytime during the day on Friday
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Finally some much needed rain starting to fall over places that desperately need it. We can expect to see more of it on Thursday and may linger into the weekend before it shuts down again next week.
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A frontal system is moving toward N. Florida and this will keep the onshore flow or west wind in place through Friday.
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Well it has been a while but we finally saw some pretty good rain across a large area of W. Central Florida. Although it is not our typical pattern we will take what we can get considering we are over 16 inches below average.
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The high temperature at the Sarasota/Bradenton airport soared to 98 degrees with a “feels like” temperature topping out at 114° at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
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High pressure is going to move out to our north over the weekend which will give us a little better chance for a few late day storms to move toward the coast.
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It is going to be another hot on on Friday with highs in the mid 90s and low temperatures well above average. The high dew point or humidity will be around once again with a west to southwest windflow pattern still hanging around.
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For the first time I can remember parts of our area were put under an excessive heat warning on Wednesday afternoon. This was in effect mainly east of I-75
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The heat is on again for Wednesday. With temperatures warming to near record highs and a westerly wind component we can expect to see “feels like” temperatures reaching 106-110° from 11 a.m. through 7 p.m.
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Look for heat indices to soar to 105-110° Tuesday with heat advisories likely being issued by the National Weather Service for the afternoon through the early evening.
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The extreme drought is still lingering over us and surrounding coastal cities due to the lack of rain fall this summer. This is rare and unheard of for this time of year.
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The crazy summer pattern of 2023 will take a 2 day break beginning on Thursday. That means instead of the persistent west wind or onshore flow we’ve seen most of the summer we will see easterly winds during the morning hours.
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The wind once again will be mainly from the west to the east on Tuesday. This kind of set-up will bring the possibility of a few isolated showers and even thunderstorms to parts of the Suncoast to start the day on Tuesday.
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After a few days of some scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms west of I-75 things are about to change again.
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Finally we have seen some much needed rainfall west of I-75 over the past couple of days. This is our typical summer pattern with showers developing along the sea breeze and then pushing westward toward the beaches.
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We finally saw some storms and much needed rainfall across parts of the Suncoast west of I-75. We will see scattered storms mainly tomorrow afternoon moving from inland areas back toward the coast.
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Don spinning out over the open waters of the Atlantic not impacting any land at this time.
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There is a chance for a few coastal showers or possible thunderstorm on Tuesday during the morning and then mainly inland during the early to late afternoon.
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Same old song and dance my friends for the weather this weekend with mainly inland storms expected with only a small chance for a coastal storm during the morning hours.
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It has been a crazy start to summer so far with a persistent onshore flow throughout much of the season which is bringing in high humidity and keeping the storms well inland.
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The heat and humidity will continue with little chance for coastal showers through the weekend. With what seems to be forever the westerly flow will stay with us through Monday.
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The chance of rain is high for the Saturday morning near the coast but those will be scattered showers and a few isolated thunderstorms The chance of rain is low for Sunday and the upcoming weekdays as some slightly drier air slips in.
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As temperatures continue to linger above 90° and dew point temps. sitting above 70° each day, the heat indices are going to continue to stay above 100° this week.
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It was the hottest July 5th ever here along the Suncoast with the high at the Sarasota/Bradenton reaching 99° which eclipsed the old mark of 98° set back in 1998.
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The summer pattern of afternoon thunderstorms has started for inland areas mainly but we will see a few along the coast as well. More moisture has moved in and this along with the sea breeze developing and moving inland look for a good chance for showers and a few thunderstorms to develop during the late afternoon and early evening over the next 7 days.
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It has been a long hot June with humidity and temperatures riding high. We will begin to see a swing in the weather pattern as we start to roll through early July.
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The “feels like” temperatures soared past 110 degrees in places on Thursday as low level moisture moved in on a west wind. The high reached 93° with the hottest feels like temperatures coming in at 109° at SRQ around 1 p.m. today.
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A weak cold front will be moving toward Florida on Wednesday which will keep our winds blowing from the Gulf onshore all day. This will keep the humidity up and cause the heat index to warm into the 100-104 degree range. This will be slightly below the 105° for two hour threshold needed to issue a heat advisory for our area.
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We are well below our average rainfall for June and it looks like we are going to end this month on a dry note. The rain chance will be low through Friday.
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Look for a pretty nice weekend ahead as a storm system moves out and high pressure builds in over Florida. We will still have the onshore flow which favors mainly late afternoon inland storms and only a very small chance for a coastal morning shower or two then the main focus of storms will be well inland.
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Once again the heat index is on the rise, with feels like temps pushing 100 degrees into the weekend in the mid-late afternoons. With high temperatures in the low 90′s and dewpoint in the upper 70′s, the humidity will remain strong.
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Thursday marks the first full day of Summer and it will feel like it with highs in the upper 80s near the beach and low 90s elsewhere.
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Bret continues toward the Windward Islands while system behind it could become Cindy soon. The tropics are quite active in a place that normally doesn’t show signs of life until August.
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