Weekend weather: Mostly dry inland, stormy on the Space Coast

System south of Grand Cayman with 90% chance of development

Shark attacks surfer off Melbourne Beach

ORLANDO, Fla. – A large ridge of high pressure will continue a light onshore breeze across Central Florida this weekend. Drier air in the upper levels will keep rain chances low through this weekend and into most of next week.

Down to our south, a broad area of low pressure sits south of Grand Cayman this morning and it is forecast to develop to a tropical depression in the next day or two. This system is expected to move to the northwest and away from Florida. However, moisture to the northeast of this system, extending towards the Bahamas, will head towards our eastern coastlines.

This means an increase of showers and a few thunderstorms tonight along the Space Coast. Expect rain chances to increase to about 40-50% this evening.

Overall highs today will warm above average, in the upper 80s with lows tonight in the mid to low 70s.

Although Hurricane Epsilon continues to pull further away, long period swells will continue to reach the eastern Central Florida waters Saturday. These will keep hazardous and dangerous swimming and boating conditions in the forecast. The high surf advisory was extended through Saturday night along with a high risk of rip currents.

Sunday, while some drier air will filter into northern section during the day and keep rain chances at 20-30 percent, rain chances will be slightly higher for our southern zones. Some moderls keep most f the heavy rain offshore nu there is a threat for heavy rain for southern Brevard county by Sunday morning.

The large ridge of high pressure won’t budge much through most of next week. This means fronts will not arrive until late week at the earliest. So it will remain warm, with highs in the mid to upper 80s and lows in the 70s.