Weather Update for Monday, December 14

A warm front just north of Florida will cause unusually high temperatures statewide for this time of year. The warm boundary will begin to erode overnight as a strong cold front begins to move into the western panhandle tomorrow morning. A series of upper level disturbances will move into the panhandle and combine with very high moist air mass and cause widespread scattered showers and thunderstorms across the western Panhandle and Florida Big Bend throughout the day and dense fog across North Florida.

A Flash Flood Watch is in effect from Monday afternoon through Tuesday afternoon for Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa counties due to forecasted rains up to 3 inches in addition to 4-8 inches previously received.

The River Flood Warning is in effect for the Apalachicola River at Blountstown, St. Marks River near Newport, the Aucilla River at Lamont, the Choctawhatchee River near Newton, Escambia River near Century due to the heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours. Click here to view river status .

Scattered showers are expected across Northwest Florida today and rainfall accumulations may reach up to 1 inch across the western panhandle and 0.10 inches across the Florida Big Bend. Widespread severe weather is not expected but there is a chance that some individual storms may become strong and contain damaging wind gusts, flooding rains, and isolated tornadoes in this area. Skies will clear up nicely across Central and South Florida, but North Florida will stay overcast for the entire day. Rains across Northwest Florida will continue overnight and increase tomorrow, spreading to Northeast and Central Florida as the cold front approaches.

Temperatures will be above average today and will reach the mid 70s across the western panhandle, upper 70s across the Florida Big Bend, low 80s across Northeast and Central Florida, and mid 80s across South Florida. Overnight lows will resemble more fall and summerlike patterns, dropping to the mid 60s across Northwest Florida, low 60s across Northeast Florida, mid to upper 60s across Central Florida and low 70s across South Florida.

A continued east swell will result in a moderate rip current risk across East-Central Florida beaches. A moderate rip current risk will exist for panhandle beaches tomorrow due to the incoming cold front. Only experienced swimmers are encouraged to enter the surf in these conditions.

To access the latest watches, warnings, and advisories from the National Weather Service for your county, please click here.