JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As of the latest update from the National Hurricane Center at 5 a.m. this morning, Beryl has shown no signs of strengthening since last night. It remains a Sub-Tropical Storm with winds 50 mph. One thing that has changed in the forward speed of the storm as it is now moving west-southwest at 10 mph. The storm is expected to make landfall tonight in NE Florida and SE Georgia late tonight as a weak tropical cyclone.
For today skies will remain sunny for much of the morning into the early afternoon. We are beginning to see clouds off our coast and they will edge into coastal areas by mid-day. Scattered showers and storms will likely impact our area with more coverage in Camden, Glynn, Nassau, Duval, St. Johns, Clay and Putnam County. The western side of Beryl is still quite disorganized while the heaviest of the rain and wind is confined to the eastern two quadrants. That will be our weather late tonight into early Monday. Expect to see rain, heavy at times and gusty winds at about 45 mph during the overnight hours. It will not be a continuous gust, in fact, the weather could be fairly calm with a noticeable change in wind speed every now and again.
Expect the following:
** The rip current risk at area beaches have already become dangerous & will increase even more.
** Winds will pick up to 15-30 mph with higher gusts over land....20-35 mph with gusts 40+ mph offshore with the strongest winds late Sunday evening through early Monday.
** There will also be at least an isolated tornado risk near & north & east of the center with the highest threat from Sunday night through Monday.
** Very heavy rain with the potential for 3-6"+ causing areas of flooding despite the long term drought.
It does not appear conditions will be particularly favorable for "Beryl" to significantly strengthen between now and landfall which looks to be a little either way of midnight Sunday night and not too far from Jacksonville.
So...
Sunday: Morning sun giving way to increasing clouds with a few showers & storms developing in the afternoon, especially closer to the coast inland to about I-95 or so....breezy north/northeast winds by afternoon will become downright windy later in the day for coastal counties & the beaches. Much of the rain may hold off inland -- near & west of Highway 301 -- until nightfall. Beware of increasing rip currents at area beaches.
Sun. night-Monday: Showers & t'storms becoming widespread with heavy rain at times. Isolated tornado threat extreme Northeast Fl. & Southeast Ga. Breezy to windy with rough seas & surf & a high rip current risk.
