Halloween Florida Fall Weather – Courtesy: Shutterstock — William C. Bunce
Mother Nature may deliver some frights — followed by a treat — a more autumn-like if not downright chilly Halloween weekend. A line of severe storms ahead of a powerful cold front is expected to travel across the North Florida region starting Wednesday night and continuing into Thursday morning.
The coldest air of the season is expected to ooze through the Sunshine State later this week, bringing in low temperatures that haven’t been seen since early spring.
However, the magnitude and arrival time of the storms remain uncertain, said Israel Gonzalez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
“The timing is the tricky part,” he said. “If it comes overnight … it may not be as strong or may not have the same severe potential. But if it comes during a more favorable time of day, then the storms will have a better opportunity to become strong to even severe.”
The Storm Prediction Center is calling for an enhanced risk for severe weather starting on Wednesday in the western Florida Panhandle, with the risk zone later extending to the Tallahassee area.
Although there could be periods of very heavy rain, strong winds are the biggest threat. The Weather Service is calling for an 80% chance of rain on Thursday.
“Given the shear involved, you have to look out for the potential tornado threats along lines like this,” Gonzalez said. “And it’s going to be pretty windy even outside of the thunderstorms ahead of the cold front and behind it.”
The front will bring in noticeably drier and cool conditions. While clouds may linger for a while, clear skies could come by Sunday. The spooky holiday forecast calls for a morning high near 70 and a low of 51.
“It still remains to be seen,” Gonzalez said. “But it looks like there’s a chance that it could be a pleasant Halloween.”
The cold weather will also affect South Florida. “There’s no mention of rain whatsoever for the weekend,” said Paxton Fell, an NWS meteorologist in Miami. “It will be the coldest temperatures of the fall season so far, but it’s still a very young season.”
Meteorological fall begins Sept. 1 and runs through Nov. 30. Astronomical fall began this year on the Sept. 22 equinox and runs through Dec. 20.
The wintry storms do not signal the end of hurricane season just yet, the National Hurricane Center says that a non-tropical area of low pressure that was consolidating Monday off the U.S.’s northeast coast has a 40% chance of forming into a subtropical or tropical cyclone by the end of the week.
The upcoming, and last, name on 2021’s traditional list of hurricane names is Wanda.
Happy Halloween!
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