ORLANDO, Fla. – Central Florida experienced a delightful Saturday with sunny spells breaking through the morning and afternoon clouds. While the winds were brisk, they were milder than the previous day’s blustery conditions, making for a more pleasant experience despite the cooler temperatures.

This weather was perfect for outdoor activities, encouraging many to step outside and enjoy the day.

If you relished today’s weather, you’ll be pleased to know that Sunday promises a return to quintessential Florida warmth. Afternoon temperatures are expected to climb into the low 80s across various locations.

Despite the warmth, expect a mix of clouds and sunshine, influenced by easterly winds blowing from the Atlantic. These winds will remain lively, ranging from 15 to 25 mph along the immediate shores of Flagler, Volusia, and Brevard counties.

Due to these conditions, a HIGH rip current risk is in effect for these coastal areas, with waves potentially reaching heights of 3 to 5 feet. If you’re planning to enjoy the beach on this warm day, exercise caution given the vigorous onshore flow.

Interior Central Florida will still be breezy as well despite being further away from the coast.

For your week ahead, it’s going to get a bit bumpy. I’m looking at the possibility we’ll be up and down in a variety of ways, from rain chances, above average temps, right back into chillier mornings, then back again.

As we get into Monday night, overall moisture in our local atmosphere will start to increase as we await the arrival of a storm system prepping to get underway somewhere between the Texas coast and east Texas/Louisiana.

Once it does form, it’ll pick up some good forward speed and race towards the east and north east, driving another plunge of cooler, drier air from up north in back behind it. Along the leading edge it’s expected to yank up additional tropical moisture from our area and further south.

Rain chances are forecast to balloon upwards Tuesday, with a potential extension of this into the early morning hours of Wednesday.

For the time being, it looks to be just that – a shot at some much-needed rainfall for a good portion of us. There is a slight chance some isolated thunderstorms try to organize during the warmest portions of the day, pending the arrival of our cold front as the low swoops by to our north.

Otherwise, I’m just not seeing any risk for strong to severe storms. It doesn’t appear we’ll get too gusty inside your more well-developed rains and storms as they work through Central Florida. This bears monitoring of course, as models will likely continue to adjust as we get closer to game time.

Then through Wednesday and Thursday we’re back to average if not below average temperatures with lows in the 50s and afternoon highs grasping at 70s.

Looking down the ways into the first half of December, it does seem more likely we’ll start to get more consistent bouts of rain towards Florida. The pattern that looks to manifest could drive more of these lower latitude low pressure systems along the upper Gulf coast, dragging with them better chances for rain.

This is good news, especially if we’re still to expect a somewhat benign and dry winter season ahead!