After a very dry three-week pattern to close the month of May, we have seen our share of rain so far this month. In fact, Tampa has had eight straight days of measurable rainfall.
Typically, we think of June as the start of our rainy season. But, the first 10 days of the month, even though very wet, have had weather patterns that have been a bit unusual for June.
The weather pattern across the country has been more late Winter or early Spring like. A persistent dip in the jet stream over the Eastern United States has allowed active weather to occur in the Southeast, including here in Florida. With the heat and the typical June humidity, this has meant repeated rounds of showers and storms. But, these have been unrelated to what would be our normal June or Summer pattern.
Typically this time of year features an east or southeast wind flow due to a persistent high pressure located somewhere to our north or northeast. This pattern favors morning sunshine and afternoon storms.
With the heating of the day, a typical June or Summer day would start with sunny and warm mornings. Then, as we heat up, the instability will lead to cumulus cloud development, and a sea breeze forming. The sea breeze front comes inland a little bit and that front becomes the focus for our afternoon or evening storms.
Often, there are daily subtleties to the wind flow or how far in the sea breeze may come, but the general pattern remains the same.
With all of this said, looking into our forecast by late this weekend and early next week. The ridge of high pressure will build in over the Western Atlantic Ocean and set us up with the east to southeast wind pattern. This, combined with the available humidity will set us up for some typical summertime weather. None of this all day, or anytime storm stuff.
