Thunderstorms are headed toward Orlando on Wednesday followingnoon and will be here to stay for the rest of the week.
“Offshore winds will help push thunderstorms across the peninsula today. Mainly in the followingnoon, they might be on the strong side,” said Spectrum News 13 meteorologist Maureen McCann.
Tuesday has a 40% chance of followingnoon thunderstorms, with the strongest storms appearing west of Interstate 4 closer to evening, McCann said.
Thunderstorms stick to the weekly forecast well into the weekend, with probabilities between 30% and 40%.
In addition, Orlando will be affected by high temperatures on Tuesday and throughout the work week.
Orlando’s high for Tuesday is forecast at 91 degrees with a low of 71, McCann said. Wednesday is similar, with a high of 90 and a low of 70. The hottest day of the week appears to be Friday, with a high of 93 and a low of 72.
Meanwhile, meteorologists are also keeping an eye on tropical activity developing in the Gulf of Mexico. The first Pacific hurricane of the season, Category 2 Agatha, hit Mexico, then dissipated and entered the Gulf. The system now has a 60% chance of becoming a tropical storm by the end of the week, according to the 2 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.
The former Pacific hurricane has a 60% chance of being reborn as the first tropical system of the Atlantic season and is targeting Florida
“We’re looking at what’s happening in the tropics as what was once Agatha in the Pacific moves into the Bay of Campeche,” McCann said.
Monday’s hurricane was one of the first to form in the Pacific season, according to meteorologist Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University. The earliest hurricane to form was Andres, which formed on May 29, 2015, Klotzbach said.
If Agatha’s remains reform into a tropical storm, she will take on the name Alex. The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts through November 30.
This story was published in the Orlando Sentinel by Joe Mario Pedersen
