Smoke-free Weekend but not Totally Rain-Free

We will see a rarity so far this month and that is a few April showers, but most of the activity will be short-lived and mainly from I-95 to the east. These are not your typical April showers that bring May flowers. The latest water vapor loop is showing plenty of dry air in the middle and upper levels which heavier rain and thunderstorms feed off of this time of year. For the 10% of us that do see the rain it will amount to less than .05". This moist ocean flow is being helped by a very weak area of low pressure and it will continue to weaken throughout the day and totally dissipate by Sunday.


The bigger story will be our fresh ocean breezes that may cause some rough fishing today. Make sure to exercise caution. The cobia are biting but so are the seas which will continue to be at 4 to 6 feet with an east wind at 10-20 mph. The big story is that normally cobia season is not until the summer. It has been a strange couple of years here on the First Coast on land and at sea that is for sure! These breezes will also keep it much cooler at the beach today in the lower 70s. Inland areas should recover close to average with highs near 80.

Looking for better pool and  beach weather? Sunday is your day as high pressure builds south and this will warm and brighten things up even more. The wind will slacken a bit for better fishing and turn more to the southeast with highs in the middle 70s beaches to lower 80s inland.

Our warming trend continues next week but with a warmer west wind it will likely increase smoke across the area by late week. Scattered showers and maybe a thunderstorm will be back in the forecast by late Wednesday but at this point rain is not a sure bet for everybody as the front will likely stall to the north.
We will take a closer look at this tonight at 6, 6:30 and 11 on First Coast News.

Long-range we do have "hope" with a couple more fronts on the way thanks to a trough setting up over the East. This lowers the pressure and causes more rising air and condensation bringing better and more widespread rain and it couldn't come soon enough.