...VERY HOT WEATHER CONTINUES TODAY WITH DANGEROUS HEAT INDEX...

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON...

Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast

Today: Partly cloudy. Slight chance of showers and thunderstorms early in the morning then chance of showers and thunderstorms in the late morning and afternoon. Highs in the mid 90s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40 %. Heat index readings 105 to 109.

Tonight: Partly cloudy. A 20 % chance of showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Lows in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Scattered thunderstorms are expected in the afternoon and evening. The main concerns with isolated stronger storms will be excessive lightning and strong downburst winds along with very heavy rainfall. Storm motion will be south around 5 to 10 mph.

Forecast Details: sounding indicates the atmosphere continues to warm especially from the surface from near 900 mb where temperatures have warmed 2-3 degrees celsius the past 24 hours. The main story remains the heat with projected afternoon highs in the upper 90s and lower 100s. Main forecast challenge is whether to include additional northeast Florida counties in the heat advisory especially areas east of U.S. 301. Numerical models indicate showers and thunderstorms will initiate along and south of a Gainesville - St. Augustine line by early afternoon as a surface trough resides near this area thus will not expand the coverage area. Although the mean flow continues to prevail from the northwest this flow regime is weaker than yesterday and anticipate the Atlantic sea-breeze to advance closer to the I-95 corridor. The advancement of this feature will bring some relief from the heat.

The atmosphere remains quite moist and unstable and thunderstorms will once again quickly form with the main concerns of wet microbursts and numerous cloud to ground lightning strikes. A slow storm motion will again provide locally heavy rainfall.

Today's Pollen Levels: 5.0 Medium (on s a scale to 12); Predominate Pollen: Grass.

A record high temperature of 98 degrees was set at Gainesville yesterday. This breaks the old record of 97 set in 1952.

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