A Beautiful Weekend Ahead and Hurricane Irma Update

What a nice shot with our MercyHealth Skycam out in Freeport, and it's gonna feel nice too this evening!  We've got a high pressure influence on our area, so this will keep the skies fairly clear this evening, with a few areas seeing partly cloudy skies.  Temperatures will be in the low 60's, cooling down to the mid to upper 50's a little after 9pm.  The overnight won't be as cold as it's been the past few nights; only in the low 50's, but a few locations may see the upper 40's.

That high pressure influence will be staying with us going into the weekend, which will allow for more sunshine tomorrow, and we'll keep those fall-like temperatures in the low 70's.  That high pressure influence will gradually move closer towards our area going through the weekend and even next week.  This will increase the amount of sunshine over our area for the next several days, and this will cause our temperatures to warm up going through next week.  We'll hit the mid 70's on Monday, and then hit the upper 70's on Tuesday before possibly hitting the low 80's by the end of next week.  During all that time, the weather will stay nice and dry.

Hurricane Irma Update:
Irma is currently a Category 4 hurricane with winds at around 155mph.  However, when it began plowing through the Caribbean yesterday it was a Category 5 hurricane, where winds were reported at around 180mph.  Even though it's a Category 4 now, it very well may strengthen again by the time it reaches the Florida mainland, which will be early Sunday morning.

Once it makes landfall, Irma will track up north through Florida, gradually dying down.  The reason that Irma will be going through Florida instead of along the East Coast is because of this hot water pool surrounding Florida, and the Bermuda High that's just out east over the Atlantic.  The high is forcing the hurricane to track towards the coast mainland, but the hot water pool is what will pull Irma through Florida instead of just tracking along the East Coast towards the Carolinas.  The hot water pool is also why there's the possibility of Irma strengthening back up into a Category 5 once it makes landfall.

After it makes landfall and pushes through Florida, Irma will make its way up through the Deep South during the beginning of next week, before dying down during the middle of next week near southern Tennessee.  By that time, it will have brought over 10 inches of rain to various areas of Florida, and over 5 inches of rain in southern Georgia and in the southern portions of South Carolina.  However, the heaviest of rainfall will be seen just south of the Florida, which will be greater than 20 inches.