Will a tropical wave bring cooling rain or elevate heat advisory? What the forecast says

Howard Cohen
·2 min read

The roasting, toasting South Florida’s been feeling all summer continues this weekend.

A heat advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday for all of South Florida, including the Keys. Both areas could have a “feels-like” temperature reading of 112.

Highs are in the low- to mid-90s in Miami-Dade and Key West.

But the advisory could be elevated to an excessive heat warning later today if the index holds above 110 degrees.

There may be a barrier, however.

Heat versus storms

There’s this tropical wave over the Bahamas that could deliver some rain to South Florida.

“So that might allow for more cloud coverage over the area,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Cameron Pine.

But an excessive heat warning is certainly a possibility, Pine added.

“The dew points will be higher today because of that moisture so if you get enough insulation or daytime heating you could get the combination of both of them. We’re going to track this morning’s temperatures and radar and just see how things progress and we can always make changes to our morning updates as the day moves on,” Pine said.

The conditions close to the excessive heat warning criteria are especially noted for parts of Miami-Dade, Collier and Hendry counties, the weather service indicated.

Weekend outlook

Sunday’s outlook is similar. Perhaps wetter than Saturday’s 50% rain and storm chance. Sunday is 60% to 70% because the trough over the Bahamas should get closer over the Florida Straits. But Pine says the potential storms won’t be widespread in terms of coverage. The should concentrate mostly over the East Coast. Miami-Dade will get a higher concentration of rain and storms than Broward or Palm Beach this weekend, he said.

The wet weather should then spread to the southwest Gulf Coast and should not yield flooding.

“Just normal summertime thunderstorms and temperatures will stay quite hot and oppressive. Very similar to today,” Pine said.

The tropical wave is not forecast to develop. Another is expected early next week and could bring more rain to South Florida. There are no systems on the National Hurricane Center’s map and none expected over the next two days.