SARASOTA (WWSB) - A line of storms will be marching through the Suncoast at the most inopportune time. Right now it looks like the morning commute and school drop-off could be a bit dicey, Most of the models are in agreement that the storms will start to have an impact on Manatee County around 6 a.m. give or take an hour. This line of storms will continue to move SE through the area and should be in Sarasota around 7-8 a.m. The heavy rain should clear the Suncoast by around 10 a.m. with some residual showers scattered about up until Noon.

Now the heavy rain should take less than an hour to move through your neighborhood. I am expecting to see at least .50″ of rain over most places with isolated areas getting about 1-2″ of rain.

There is a chance that one or two of the storms could turn severe. Although that chance is small I would still expect to see a few of them with strong gusty winds up to 50-60 mph. There will be enough twist in the atmosphere that we could also see an isolated tornado develop as the line moves through. The chance for tornadoes is small at 2%.

The winds will be switching around to the SW prior to the fronts arrival and will be strong in the 20-25 mph range. By the afternoon on Thursday those winds will whip around to the NW at 15-20 mph in the afternoon. A small craft advisory is in effect along with a rip current advisory through Friday morning.

Skies will begin to clear later in the day and temperatures will slowly fall throughout the day. Northerly winds will stay with us through the weekend which means temperatures will be on the cool side through Sunday and beyond. The low on Friday will be rather chilly into the mid 40s. Lows over the weekend will be in the low 40s each morning. High temperatures are expected only to rise into the mid 60s through Sunday.

Right now it looks like the next system which is expected to have an impact on Florida will either pass to our South on Sunday as the European forecast model is suggesting, or hit us on Monday as the GFS, or US model is indicating. Right now the best chance for more rain will be on Monday.

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