Weather is nasty in Palm Beach County. Gusts up to 35 mph, rip current warnings, potential flooding

It's December so Palm Beach County can count on unpredictable weather: cold snaps, high humidity, thunderstorms ... anything's possible.

But the windy, rainy conditions that have taken over Palm Beach County and much of Florida's east coast — a system that's expected to last through the weekend — is just a pain.

Holiday displays and plants are being knocked down and people are getting soaked by spraying rainfall while trying to get to their cars after a quick shopping trip to Publix. And you can't plan anything outdoors.

Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida are under a wind advisory until Saturday morning, with warnings of sustained winds of 25 mph and gusts of up to 40 mph along the coast. South Florida also was under a flood watch through Thursday evening because of the excessive rainfall.

The National Weather Service warns of a high risk of rip currents, surf of up to 7 feet in some areas and overall dangerous marine conditions.

The windy conditions also can play havoc with powerlines. At 9:30 a.m., Florida, Power & Light reported that 3,500 Palm Beach County customers had lost power (out of 783,000 total customers in the county). Most had power restored by the afternoon.

The weather service notes that excessive rains could lead to localized flooding along the east coast of Florida. The threat of thunderstorms and heavy rains is expected to continue through the weekend.

Showers across the region Thursday could drop an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain over grounds already saturated by recent rainfall, meaning that a flood watch will continue for east coast metro areas through Thursday evening.

The good news for Palm Beach County is that the blustery conditions won't include cold temperatures. Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid-to-low 70s during the day and in the high 60s at night through Sunday. It's forecast to be a bit chillier Sunday night, with a low of 58 degrees, and temperatures Monday could struggle to reach 70 degrees.

The weird weather is a combination of two systems moving down from the Rockies and the southern Plains into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and a quasi-stationary front. The rains could get progressively worse, with high winds, AccuWeather forecasters said.

"The excessive rainfall threat will increase each day culminating in a heavy rain event across the state on Saturday," said National Weather Service forecaster Mussie Kebede.

While Palm Beach County may avoid the worst of coastal flooding, areas farther north may see "significant coastal flooding," especially in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Brevard and Volusia counties until Saturday afternoon and a high surf advisory until Sunday morning, with breaking waves of 6 to 13 feet.

"Onshore winds and high surf will bring moderate beach erosion around the time of high tide (Thursday) morning from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and again (Thursday night) from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m." said NWS meteorologist John Pendergrast. A shore break of 5 to 8 feet can produce runup to dune lines or sea walls.

"Coastal hazards increase into late-week with hazardous surf (strong rip currents and large breaking waves), as well the potential for minor coastal flooding and beach erosion due to building surf and higher than normal high tides," said NWS meteorologist Jole Fehling.

Rainfall amounts up to 5 inches are possible over South Florida's east coast metro areas, the NWS said.

On the Beaufort scale, which measures wind speeds and damage effects, 30-40 mpg gusts are considered "near gale," putting "whole trees in motion" and creating difficulty in walking against the wind.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida weather: Windy, rain, rip current warnings in West Palm Beach