A strong cold front will finally roll through the area Thu. bringing an end to the remarkably long stretch of warm Jan. weather. The front will move west to east through the day Thu., so the morning will begin very mild with temps. rising to near 70 degrees by midday in metro Jax. Once the front moves in -- about noon - 2pm -- for metro Jax, clouds will quickly thicken, showers will occur, winds will become gusty from the west/northwest & temps. will fall. So in summary:
** Thu. begins very mild & spring-like, breezy
** cold front moves quickly west to east in the middle of the day
** temps. peak by mid to late morning along the I-75 corridor...by noon near I-95/metro Jax...by early afternoon at the beaches
** showers will spread west to east but amounts will be less than a quarter of an inch & in many spots less than a tenth of an inch, especially across metro Jax & NE Fl.
** breezy southwest winds in the morning will shift to the west & northwest & become strong & gusty with the passage of the cold front
** temps. will drop into the 50s following the front
** from shorts & t-shirts in the morning to pants, sweaters & jackets by later in the day
Fri. will be a chilly day with gusty north/northeast winds. But temps. will moderate some just in time for the weekend making for a cool but pleasant weekend with lows 40-45 (some 30s inland) & highs in the 60s.
So we'll see an end to the streak of 10 straight days with well above avg. temps.: (avg: 64)
8th: 70
9th: 76
10th: 78
11th: 82
12th: 81
13th: 81
14th: 81
15th: 81
16th: 82
17th: forecast high near 70
Pollen will briefly improve Thu. afternoon with the rain, but the wind will counteract most of the benefits. We need a solid freeze to make a real dent in the pollen, & I don't see a freeze until at least the middle of next week. The photo below was snapped by Action News anchor Tera Barz & shows the pollen collected at the bottom of a storm drain on a sidewalk.
