980 FXUS62 KJAX 260732 AFDJAX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Jacksonville FL 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 ...HEAT ADVISORY BEGINS AT 11 AM TODAY FOR MOST OF OUR AREA... ...EXTREME HEAT CONCERNS FOR EARLY PORTIONS OF NEXT WEEK... ...THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE GRADUALLY INCREASES BY MIDWEEK... For the latest NE FL and SE GA Daily Key Messages please visit: https://www.weather.gov/media/jax/briefings/nws-jax-briefing.pdf .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Overnight surface analysis depicts high pressure (1021 millibars) centered directly over our region. Aloft..."Heat Wave" ridging was positioned over eastern portions of the Carolinas and southeastern GA. Latest GOES-East derived Total Precipitable Water imagery indicates that PWATs have fallen below late July climatology for our area, with values generally in the 1.5 - 1.75 inch range. Even lower moisture values were located to the south of Interstate 4 in the FL peninsula, where values have fallen to the 1.25 - 1.5 inch range. Fair skies prevail area-wide, and decoupling winds at inland locations have allowed temperatures at 07Z to generally fall to the 75-80 degree range, with dewpoints mostly in the low to mid 70s. && .NEAR TERM... (Today and Tonight) Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Stacked ridging will become centered over southeast GA this afternoon and evening. Strong subsidence will limit convective potential for locations from Waycross northward. Meanwhile, PWAT values for areas south of Waycross are expected to rise slightly back towards climatology (1.7 - 1.9 inches) this afternoon, which may be just enough to develop isolated to widely scattered convection this afternoon, mainly for inland locations along and south of the Interstate 10 corridor. This activity would be triggered by the inland moving Gulf and Atlantic sea breeze boundaries, in addition to other mesoscale boundaries such as the Lake George and St. Johns River breezes, with these boundaries likely colliding near the U.S. Highway 301 and/or 17 corridors late this afternoon. Strengthening subsidence will likely result in transient convection that will likely remain brief in nature, with strong storms unlikely. The bigger story today will be the heat, with plenty of sunshine and subsidence allowing highs to soar to the upper 90s at most inland locations, while coastal locations rise to the low and mid 90s before onshore winds in the wake of the inland moving sea breeze drop temperatures back to the upper 80s to around 90 by late afternoon. Forecasting dewpoint temperatures today will be tricky due to increasing subsidence that may be offset by inland moving sea, lake, and river breezes. Decided to trend values slightly above blended guidance for the late morning and afternoon hours, which yields heat index values mostly in the 105-110 degree range across our area. We maintained the Heat Advisory for all but the interior southeast GA counties to the west of Baxley, Alma, and Waycross, where peak heat indices should remain closer to 105 degrees. Fair skies should again prevail for the majority of the evening and overnight hours tonight, with any convection that manages to develop this afternoon likely dissipating towards or shortly after sunset. Surface winds will decouple at inland locations towards midnight, resulting in lows falling to the mid 70s again at most inland locations. A light southwesterly breeze at coastal locations will keep lows in the upper 70s to around 80 around sunrise on Sunday. && .SHORT TERM... (Sunday through Monday night) Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Stacked high pressure overhead on Sunday gradually shifts west- northwestward on Monday bringing dangerous and potentially record heat to the area. On Sunday, strong subsidence and lower PWATs (1.4 - 1.7 in) will continue limited convective coverage with mainly isolated showers and storms developing over inland NE FL as the sea breezes shift inland. High temperatures soar to near record ranging in the mid 90s along the coast to the upper 90s to around 100 F inland. Area-wide Heat Advisories are likely on Sunday with peak heat indices in the 107-112 F range. On Monday, an influx of moisture and departing subsidence will bring a return of isolated to widely scattered showers and storms developing along the sea breezes. Despite an increase in storm coverage, Monday is on tap to be the hottest day of the summer with record- breaking highs in the upper 90s to low 100s and peak heat indices potentially peaking in Extreme Heat Warning criteria (heat index 113+ F) for much of the area. There won`t be much relief overnight as lows will only "cool" into the mid/upper 70s to around 80. With dangerous heat expected, it is important to refrain from extended periods outside during the afternoon hours and remain hydrated to avoid heat-related illness. && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday through Friday) Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Dangerous heat continues through mid-week with a moist airmass and near record temperatures. An upper disturbance passes through the region Tuesday into Wednesday increasing convective coverage to scattered/numerous. Atlantic high pressure ridging builds back across the FL peninsula Thursday into Friday bringing a return to a more typical afternoon summertime pattern of sea-breeze driven convection. Temperatures adjust down by a couple of degrees with highs in the mid to late 90s but lingering moisture will maintain peak heat indices in Heat advisory criteria (108-112 F). && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 141 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Periods of MVFR to IFR visibilities are expected overnight at VQQ. Otherwise, VFR conditions will prevail at the regional terminals. Isolated to widely scattered showers and thunderstorms will be confined to inland locations south of the Interstate 10 corridor on Saturday afternoon. Confidence was only high enough for vicinity shower mentions at JAX and VQQ after 18Z, with vicinity thunderstorms possible at GNV after 20Z. Showers and thunderstorms that manage to develop should dissipate shortly after 00Z along the Interstate 75 corridor. Light and variable winds overnight will become northwesterly shortly after sunrise, with speeds increasing to 5-10 knots by 15Z. The Atlantic and Gulf coast sea breezes will then move inland by early afternoon, shifting surface winds to easterly at SGJ and southeasterly at SSI by 17Z, with speeds then increasing to around 10 knots by 18Z. Light and variable surface winds at GNV and VQQ will shift to southwesterly at 5-10 knots after 20Z. Surface winds will then diminish after 00Z at the inland terminals, while winds shift to southwesterly around 5 knots for the coastal terminals by 02Z Sunday. && .MARINE... Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 High pressure centered over our local waters today will shift westward tonight and Sunday, allowing a trough to develop over the southeastern states that will settle over our area early next week. Dry weather will prevail this weekend, with chances for showers and thunderstorms gradually increasing next week as troughing begins to shift to the west of our local waters by midweek and Atlantic high pressure builds westward towards the Florida peninsula on Thursday and Friday. Seas of 2 to 3 feet will prevail both near shore and offshore during the next several days. Rip Currents: Developing onshore winds during the afternoon hours will combine with a persistent easterly ocean swell to create a lower end moderate rip current risk at all area beaches this weekend. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 332 AM EDT Sat Jul 26 2025 Light northwesterly surface and transport winds developing shortly after sunrise will shift to westerly this afternoon for locations north of Interstate 10 and southwesterly for locations south of I-10. Light speeds today will result in poor daytime dispersion values for inland locations south of I-10 and also at coastal locations, where breezy onshore surface winds will develop early this afternoon. Elevated mixing heights across inland southeast GA will yield fair daytime dispersion values. North-northwesterly surface and transport winds on Sunday morning will shift to northerly during the afternoon hours for inland locations south of I-10, while onshore surface winds again develop at coastal locations early in the afternoon. Elevated mixing heights will yield good daytime dispersion values at all inland locations on Sunday and Monday afternoons. Northwesterly surface and transport winds will prevail for inland portions of southeast GA on Monday, while northerly winds elsewhere shift to northeasterly during the afternoon hours. A very hot and unseasonably dry air mass will result in minimum relative humidity values falling to around 35 percent on Monday afternoon across inland southeast GA and northern portions of the Suwannee Valley. && .CLIMATE... Issued at 333 AM EDT Fri Jul 25 2025 Daily Record High Temperatures at our local climate sites... SAT 7/26 SUN 7/27 MON 7/28 TUE 7/29 Jacksonville, FL 102/1872 100/1872 104/1872 100/1875 Gainesville, FL 100/1952 101/1893 97/2010 99/1896 Craig Airport, FL 97/2012 99/2010 98/2016 101/2016 Alma, GA (AMG) 101/2012 99/2014 100/2006 99/2016 Daily Record High Minimum Temps at our local climate sites... SAT 7/26 SUN 7/27 MON 7/28 TUE 7/29 Jacksonville, FL 86/1872 85/1872 80/1885 80/1877 Gainesville, FL 78/2018 77/2010 77/2014 77/1899 Craig Airport, FL 79/2015 80/2010 80/2014 79/2017 Alma, GA (AMG) 77/2010 77/2018 78/2014 77/2017 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AMG 98 76 99 77 / 10 0 10 0 SSI 95 81 96 82 / 0 0 10 0 JAX 98 78 99 78 / 20 0 10 0 SGJ 93 78 94 79 / 20 0 10 0 GNV 97 76 99 78 / 40 10 20 0 OCF 95 76 97 77 / 30 10 30 10 && .JAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...Heat Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 7 PM EDT this evening for FLZ021-023-024-030-031-035-038-120-124-125-132-136>138- 140-220-225-232-233-236-237-240-322-325-333-340-422-425-433- 522-533-633. GA...Heat Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 7 PM EDT this evening for GAZ134>136-151>154-162-163-165-166-250-264-350-364. AM...None. && $$