Warm weather for Wednesday

ABC7 News at 6pm

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - It doesn’t get much better than this for early February. Since Sunday we have had beautiful beach weather with highs in the mid to upper 70s at the beach and into the low to mid 80s east of I-75. We can expect to see that continue through Thursday with the only downside being some patchy morning fog which will quickly burn off by 8 to 9 a.m. There is a dense fog advisory in effect from Sarasota northward through Tampa from 3 a.m. until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Conditions are ripe for dense fog in places Wednesday morning — Conditions are ripe for dense fog in places Wednesday morning(WWSB)

There is a weak cold front that will begin to move in late Friday but don’t expect much of a cool down behind it as it will be moving in more from the west as opposed to the north. We will see winds pick up by Friday afternoon which could prompt the National Weather Service to issue some boating advisories which may linger into the weekend.

Wednesday’s lows will be in the low 60s to mid 60s with some patchy fog developing after midnight. We will then see generally sunny skies on Wednesday once the fog lifts with highs running some 5-8 degrees above the average of 73 degrees for this time of year.

Thursday, or Groundhog day we will see another day of sunshine here in Florida but may not be the case for Punxsutawney Phil. Right now the odds of the famous marmot seeing his shadow stands at 50%. So it is a coin toss as to whether there will be 6 more weeks of winter based on the rodent seeing his shadow. Legend has it if he sees his shadow then there will be 6 more weeks of winter, if he doesn’t then it will be an early spring. Either way it really doesn’t matter much here as we will take either outcome. The high on Thursday will once again be in the mid to upper 70s at the beach and low 80s elsewhere.

A few showers possible late Friday and over the weekend — A few showers possible late Friday and over the weekend(WWSB)

Friday a weak cold front will begin to move in from the west and weaken as it approaches. We can expect to see some increase in cloudiness and a slight chance for a few showers late in the day and through the early morning hours of Saturday. The rain chance is at 30%. It will be breezy by Friday afternoon with winds picking up out of the SW at 15-20 mph.

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