Storms Ready to Fire Again As Summer Pattern Takes Hold

Here was the scene yesterday in Mandarin as a huge turtle was taking a walk in my parents yard enjoying the sunniest day in more than a week! Memorial Day was a day to give thanks to those that have served our country and folks were also thankful they got all their plans in even if nature made it interesting late in the day as storms fired up in the Highway 17 and 301 corridor before quickly weakening as they moved toward the beaches. Today will be a lot like yesterday although the Gulf coast sea breeze will be more dominant and it will work with an upper-level disturbance so that I think all of us have a good chance of seeing some heavy downpours including the beaches. So make sure to get your walks in like the turtle above before 6 p.m. There could be a quick shower or thundershower along the East Coast sea breeze in the early and mid-afternoon but most of the action will hold off until late today. It looks like the later we go into the day and evening the better chance of thunderstorms. Already you can see storms flaring up near the Gulf Coast of Florida just after the noon hour. These are moving our way.

The main line of storms will fire up in Baker, Union, and Bradford Counties as early as 4 p.m. before moving to the northeast and through the Jacksonville area between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The storms could be strong, especially in the inland areas with nickel size hail and wind gusts near 60 mph possible as the upper-level disturbance adds more lift to the atmosphere. Stay tuned and be ready. All thunderstorms need to be taken seriously and we were reminded of that over the weekend as two children died on Lake George on Sunday as thei boat they were in capsized during a thunderstorm. Remember when the clouds start building storms can take as little as 20 minutes to form. Stay alert to changing weather conditions at all times now that we are in thunderstorm season here in Florida. This is the time of year where we track thunderstorms almost every single day across the Florida peninsula and today will be our 14th consecutive day in the Jacksonville area where the radars will light up in our viewing area. There never is a dull moment this time of year for meteorologists and it will only get more interesting with hurricane season less than a week away. More on this here on the blog this week.


Teri Trent sends us this picture from Lafayette, Indiana where the peonies are out in full force after a nice weekend across much of the Midwest. Today it looks like those hit and miss showers that moved in late yesterday will become more widespread today across the Lafayette area as the tropical Florida low that dumped almost 12 inches of rain on my neighborhood or more than 300 million gallons of water moves your way. I can tell you first hand that it is a beast and you need to be on the outlook for not only lowland flooding but a few strong thunderstorms. Be ready like us here in Northeast Florida by late this afternoon and stay safe. Teri took 300 kids to Indiana Beach today and the good news is the rain at least did hold off until later in the day. I will not take credit it for it this time Teri. I will just say good things happen to good people! Thanks for the picture! Also for all the Southwestern Middle School kids heading to Kings Island on Friday I am giving you the all clear with a great day to ride the rollercoasters. There will be plenty of sunshine with highs in the middle to upper 70s in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Developing...

MORE MEMORIAL DAY PICS ON THE WAY INCLUDING HOW I WIPED OUT ON THE BIG SLIDE AND A SPECIAL TROPICAL UPDATE THIS EVENING ON ANOTHER TROPICAL LOW FORMING OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE FIRST COAST....