The Florida Panhandle, many people will tell you, is more reminiscent of the deep south than of the touristy peninsula most of us have visited before. That extends to the heat and humidity of summer, and temperatures in the winter that are surprisingly cool at times. Tallahassee does have seasons, and autumn showed up during our forecast last weekend. Temperatures dropped from the upper 80s on Friday to the mid 70s for highs after a dry but clearly strong cold front swept through. That’s sweater weather for Floridians. It was also a W for Accuweather. Actuals: Friday – High 88, Low 62 Saturday – High 76, Low 60
Tallahassee is in the process of recovering from Isaias, which brought torrential rains just to the west of the state capital.
At 853PM, ET, Tallahassee was reporting a temperature of 74 degrees with clear skies. An area of high pressure lay over the Florida Peninsula, but a deep digging autumnal trough over the Mississippi Valley is going to start churning up some southerly flow across the Gulf. The boundary associated with the trough will arrive overnight Friday into Saturday morning. Far removed from the circulation of the surface flow, and coming after daylight, it will not bring much if any precipitation with it, but it will bring a taste of much cooler air to the Florida Panhandle to kick off the weekend. Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, clouds late, High 89, Low 65 Saturday – Clouds early, with some predawn drizzle, High 73, Low 54
TWC: Tomorrow – Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. Hot. High 89, Low 64 Saturday – Partly cloudy skies. Much cooler. High 74, Low 59
AW: Tomorrow – Warm with plenty of sunshine High 88, Low 60 Saturday – Breezy in the morning; otherwise, less humid with plenty of sunshine High 75, Low 60
NWS: Tomorrow – Areas of fog before 10am. Otherwise, sunny High 89, Low 66 Saturday – Sunny, High 73, Low 60
WB: Tomorrow – Areas of fog in the morning. Sunny. High 87, Low 67 Saturday – Sunny. Much cooler. High 74, Low 61
WN: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny, High 89, Low 66 Saturday – Mostly sunny, High 74, Low 62
CLI: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 89, Low 64 Saturday – Sunny, High 74, Low 58
I’m the only one who has rain in the forecast, but we all see a big change coming to the weather in Tallahassee. You can see the band of clouds through the center of the country, separating winter and summer.
Hello, and happy weekend! In the dead heat of summer, a road trip across the southern US sounds like the last thing one might want to do, but frankly, most cars have functioning air conditioning, so why not? It will take us a surprisingly swift 4 days at a pace of 70+mph, which is pretty close to our top speed, maybe ever. This will allow us to cover the 2176 miles between the towns in 561 mile chunks (a little less, somehow, on Day 4). Let’s blow the doors off this thing, huh?
DAY ONE (Saturday)
Tallahassee, Florida
Thunderstorms are raging in the Plains tonight, from Colorado and Nebraska southeast through Iowa and Illinois. They will continue to shift to the east southeast through the day. Bad news for the middle of the country but good news for drivers on the Gulf Coast. The showers and storms will be focused along this axis of instability, and will steer clear of the immediate Gulf Coast, leaving only a little bit of spotty activity between Mobile and New Orleans, but not much else. Our day will end on the east side of Lake Charles, still reeling from the last hurricane season. Thankfully, we’ve been quiet so far.
DAY TWO (Sunday) That feature in the middle of the country is going to slow down and wind up over the weekend. A cold front will develop over north Texas and become evident by the evening in the Dallas area, but we aren’t driving through north Texas or Dallas. It will stay Texas hot and Texas dry in the southern part of the state. We’ll get just west of Ozona before we conclude our drive for Sunday.
DAY THREE (Monday) The drive will continue through mostly pleasant conditions on Monday, but the seasonal monsoon is underway out west. The slightly elevated ground along the New Mexico – Arizona border could provide some fertile ground for scattered thunderstorms, and we might see a splash west of Lordstown, New Mexico. They will mostly be wrapped up, but still possible as we slide into Wilcox, east of Tucson.
DAY FOUR (Tuesday) A similar pattern is expected for Tuesday. Importantly, this means that showers and storms will wait until late in the day to develop, and will generally be confined to the same spots on Tuesday as they were on Monday. That is to say, they will be most likely in the New Mexico/Arizona border region, which we will long be out of by the time thunderstorms develop. It’s just the hot, dry desert for us through Arizona and inland California, with the pearl at the end of the drive, beautiful San Diego.
Today we embark on a 3-day, 1,687-mile cross-country trip. However, we’re not going coast to coast, we’re going from the Gulf to the Great Plains! Let’s see what the next few days has in store for us as we make our way from Tallahassee to Grand Forks.
DAY ONE
Quiet conditions are expected for our departure from Tallahassee in the morning. As we pass by Montgomery midday, a few isolated showers and thunderstorms look to develop in the region, but most of that should be off to the east of the route. Dry weather should persist for the rest of the day as we pull into Nashville for the night
DAY TWO
Quiet conditions are anticipated for the start of the second day, though as we head northwestward on I-24 into KY, there could be a couple isolated showers during the late morning hours. We’ll pass by Paducah and head north towards Champaign, with partly to mostly cloudy skies along the route. Dry weather persists throughout the day as we pass Champaign and continue north towards Rockford, our stop for the night. There could be some isolated shower activity as we pull in, but thunderstorms might be seen off to the northwest.
DAY THREE
Low pressure shifting through WI and IL to start the day could make for a cloudy and showery morning as we head north towards Madison. Thunderstorm activity, if it’s already started, should be off to the east so that’s some good fortune for us as we start this long day. Dry conditions are expected through the midday and afternoon hours along I-94 through WI towards the Twin Cities, though don’t be surprised if a late-afternoon shower pops up as we make our way into MN. As we continue along I-94 past St. Cloud towards Fargo, dry conditions are expected once again and remain so for the rest of the trip into Grand Forks!
