NWS: Near-record highs in Treasure Coast forecast ahead of weekend cold front
Get ready to roast the rest of the week − much sooner than usual.
Treasure Coast temperatures are expected to shoot up into the upper 90s with heat index values reaching into the low 100s Friday, a National Weather Service meteorologist said.
"Normal highs this time of year are the mid 80s (for) the Treasure Coast," said meteorologist Kole Fehling, with the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Melbourne.
A pattern of high-pressure and low sea breeze along with seasonal changes are what weather forecasters said are causing the warm and dry weather patterns, leading to drought conditions in some areas.
Throughout the week, daily highs across the Treasure Coast will gradually rise low-to-mid 90s and mid-to-upper 90s ahead of a cold front forecast for Saturday, Fehling said.
By Friday, he said forecasts show 10 degrees warmer than normal with heat index values in the upper 90s and low 100s.
The temperatures could tie or break a near 50-year record high of 95 in Vero Beach set in 1976, a high of 96 set in Fort Pierce in 2008 and 96 in Stuart set in 1986.
"Temperatures cool off into the weekend," he said. "We get a cold front that will come through ... that’ll help cool down temps a little bit."
The cold front will bring a 20% chance of showers and storms Friday and 40% Saturday, he said.
The system was not expected to bring heavy rain, but Fehling said Saturday was, the "best chance, near term" over the next five days.
The Treasure Coast was under moderate drought conditions Tuesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's drought monitor site, Drought.gov.
In a moderate drought, burn bans are possible, trees and bushes begin browning and water supply decreases. About 9% of the state is in this category, from northern Palm Beach County to mid-Brevard County, and portions of Okeechobee, Glades, Osceola and Hendry counties. About 27% of the state is experiencing abnormally dry conditions. No counties have severe drought.
"In this time (of year) we typically see dry conditions," Fehling said.
What is considered wet season typically begins in the third to fourth week of May, when sea breeze and low systems bring rain and thunderstorms, he said.
Meteorologist Tim Sedlock looked into overall rainfall so far this year in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties and how far those amounts were down from normal values.
In Indian River County, where the agency has a monitoring station at Vero Beach Regional Airport, he said there has been roughly 5.35 inches, which is down 6.72 inches from a normal of 12.07 inches of rain total typically recorded by May.
In Fort Pierce he said a total of 5.61 inches of rain had been recorded since January, which is a departure from the normal 11.3 inches by 5.82 inches.
In Stuart, a total of 10.46 inches so far this year could not be compared to annual averages because the agency does not have an official weather data recording site in Martin County, he said.
Both Vero Beach and Fort Pierce last saw "trace" amounts of rain May 1, while Stuart received 2 inches of rain on that date.
Total rain amounts for April, he said, were "not very good," with .45 inches of rain in Vero Beach, .55 in Fort Pierce and .80 in Stuart.
Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow @coreyarwood on X, email corey.arwood@tcpalm.com or call 772-978-2246.
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Treasure Coast weather forecast: Highs in near-record upper 90s
