JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Top of the morning, to ya! Today will be a prime opportunity to 'happy out' at the beach and enjoy more of your Spring Break -- and or be green with envy for those stuck in an office somewhere looking out your window to golden sunshine on this St. Patrick's Day.
St. Patrick -- "known for driving out the snakes of Ireland to which they all came to the United States and became NBC executives", that according to Jay Leno before he left 'Tonight.' Probably not terms you want to leave a company on. Hilarious nonetheless.
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We'll be challenging record highs on Tuesday as temperatures are expected to soar into the mid and even upper 80s across our region Tuesday. The record is 88° at Jacksonville Int'l in 2002. Our forecast? 86°. Close.
That is to say that the day of the Leprechaun mischief will be as warm as the typical Irish dishes -- corn beef and cabbage at last check.
Some areas near Waycross, GA approached 90 degrees on Monday -- far too early for that if you ask me. Why won't St. Pat drive that out of here?
Alas, there are big changes ahead in your forecast with the introduction of abundant clouds, rain and much, much cooler temperatures; all over the next 7 days.
High pressure that has dominated our forecast, the catalyst to our brilliantly blue skies and sunburns galore, will begin to contract and shift offshore. Being on the periphery of this high will allow moisture and a front to sweep on in as early as Wednesday.
You're going to notice an uptick in the clouds, and by uptick becoming nearly overcast Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday and into the weekend. We can't totally rule out some peaks of sun but it'll be limited at best as we kick off the first day of Spring on Friday. We'll also be dodging rain drops Thursday and Friday as an area of disturbed weather moves this way. At this time, it [rain] appears to be light in nature with low rain accumulations expected. We'll continue to update the forecast over the next few mornings.
By the way, Spring kicks off at 6:45 p.m. est on Friday. There will also be a total solar eclipse but will not be seen in the United States as it will be in the middle of the night here when it happens.