JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a wild Saturday of storms left hundreds of trees down in north Central Florida and a deluge of rain and marble-size hail in St. Johns County, Sunday's forecast includes the potential of more severe weather.
The possibility of heavy rainfall and the chance of storms has Channel 4 extending its Weather Authority Alert into a second day.
Channel 4's entire viewing area is under a wind advisory, and tornado watches issued overnight for areas west of the Suwannee River could be extended east into the metro Jacksonville area on Sunday morning.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued about 8:30 a.m. for Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee counties and much of south central Georgia. The systems, which includes thousands of lightening strikes, is moving to the east and north.
Gusts of wind up to 60 or even 70 mph are also possible.
Thunderstorms on Sunday could bring hail as large as dimes, quarters or even golf balls to the region.
Hail on Saturday in Bradford and St. Johns counties caused some damage to cars, windows and siding of homes.
St. Augustine was also hammered 3.6 inches of rainfall on Saturday -- a new one-day record for the date. Jacksonville International Airport reported 2.3 inches of rain. Just over one inch was reported at Jacksonville Beach, while most of the other reporting stations around northeast Florida reported three-quarters of an inch or less.
All the wet weather is being initiated by a warm front to our south and a cold front to our west.
Channel 4's Blake Mathews says the fronts will move off the coast Sunday afternoon and the skies will clear by sunset. Much cooler weather and even a few light, inland freezes are possible by the middle of the week.