Three days in a row of record highs in Fort Myers. Will the streak continue into Thursday?
While most of Southwest Florida was dry and mainly sunny on Wednesday, there have been a couple of stronger storms inland. The last of the thunderstorms move out later in the evening, with the sky clearing behind it. Overnight temperatures will dip down into the upper 70s.
Thursday starts out sunny, but it will also feel a little muggy in the morning. Rain chances are near 30% with slightly higher chances the further east you are. Highs will reach the low-mid 90s again. As long as the sea breeze doesn’t produce any showers over the airport in the afternoon, temperatures may hit 95 or 96, which would tie or break the record from 1990.
If you aren’t a big fan of the excessive heat, highs will return closer to normal next week. The average Fort Myers high temperature for September is 90.
Tracking the Tropics:
Hurricane Lee is no longer a major hurricane as it starts to move into slightly cooler waters north of the Caribbean. Lee is moving north-northwest and will continue on that northerly track through the rest of the week. This will take the storm over even cooler waters left behind by Idalia and Franklin, forcing it to weaken. While it is no threat to SWFL, it will near the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada in its weakened state this weekend. Hurricane and tropical storm watches have been issued for much of New England. A storm surge watch has been issued for coastal southeastern Massachusetts, where the latest storm surge forecast has up to 4 feet of inundation.
Hurricane Margot continues to crawl northward in the central Atlantic. It is no threat to land and is expected to fall apart in the coming days as it too treks over cooler waters.
There’s another disturbance moving away from Africa that has a high chance to develop as it moves W-NW across the far eastern tropical Atlantic. If it strengthens to become a tropical storm, it would take the name Nigel. Models show the disturbance following a similar track that Lee took, keeping it away from the Caribbean and Florida. We’ll be watching it, so stay tuned for updates.