With a high of 85 yesterday was the first day in almost two weeks to be warmer than average. That brief spell of warm weather is over, however, as we hit today's high of 74 just after midnight. Thanks to heavy cloud cover, lots of rain and the eventual passage of a cold front the temperature is going to gradually fall to the mid 60s by late afternoon.
The map of surface winds and precipitable water explains today's rain. Moisture-laden air off the Atlantic is pushing up against a cold front just west of the city this morning. With nowhere to go but up the humid air rises, cools to saturation, then drops its load all along the front. The heaviest rains should stay inland but showers and thunderstorms are likely through tomorrow morning with an inch or more rain possible in the city.
As seen by the orangey-tan color on the map there is lots of dry air to our west. The skies should clear tomorrow afternoon and remain mostly clear through the weekend. Temperatures will remain on the slightly cool side with highs only in the lower to mid 70s for the next several days.
Hurricane Irma remains an extremely powerful storm with winds of 185 mph and gusts over 200 mph. The most recent forecast has the eye of the hurricane passing just north of Puerto Rico tonight, Hispaniola tomorrow and Cuba on Saturday before taking a northward turn toward Florida on Sunday. There is still a lot of uncertainty as to how sharp a turn the storm will take, so it is too soon to accurately predict the impacts the storm will have on Florida.
