..HEAVY RAINFALL POTENTIAL ACROSS NORTH FLORIDA...

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Today: Mostly cloudy. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning then showers and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70 %. Heat index readings 101 to 105.

Tonight: Partly cloudy with a 50 % chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 5 mph.

A surface trough will continue across south georgia as an upper level trough deepens across the eastern seaboard. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to re-develop across south Georgia late this morning with more numerous convection across north Florida this afternoon. Some strong storms will be possible across southeast Georgia this afternoon with the main convective concerns gusty winds and frequent lightening. Farther south a moist airmass and slow westerly storm motion will create a heavy rainfall potential across northeast Florida.

Tonight the potential for scattered to isolated thunderstorms will persist as the upper level trough deepens over the area. Periods of heavy rainfall will be possible.

Forecast Details: .an upper level trough deepens over the eastern Seaboard today & Tuesday while a surface trough persists across south Georgia and over the northeast Gulf.

Drier air will progressively infiltrate over our Georgia zones which will lower rain chances through the course of today but also bring steeper low/middle level lapse rates. With the lingering surface trough and precipitable waters drier but still around 1.75 to 1.9 inches by 00z there will be a higher probability of strong to possibly severe afternoon & evening storms this afternoon.

Farther south precipitable waters of 2+ inches will extended across North Florida in concert with a light westerly steering flow. Periods of heavy rainfall will continue to impact portions of our Florida County Warning Area today but mechanisms for heavy rainfall potential and isolated strong/severe storms look even more promising on Tuesday due to strong upper level divergence and increased positive vorticity advection when the upper trough further deepens over the southeast Atlantic Seaboard before ejecting downstream Tuesday night.

Today's Pollen Levels: 6.7 Medium  (on a scale to 12); Predominate Pollen: Ragweed, Grass and Chenopods.

DId You Know That … Hurricane Andrew began to eye Florida on this date in 1992. On the morning of the 23rd, Andrew had winds of 120 mph (Category 3) but by 3:30 P.M., the storm's winds had increased to 150 mph (Category 4). Current Island in the Bahamas recorded a 23 foot storm surge.

For additional information visit the National Weather Service in Jacksonville website on the internet at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jax/