ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As expected, moisture is slowly increasing and the dry air with the Saharan dust is slowly drifting westward.

As a result, we’ve seen some scattered storms out there. Although the coverage has been limited, they’ve been very heavy where they popped up.

• Saharan dust departs
• Moisture increases
• Daily storms return
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Any scattered storms will go away overnight with clearing skies into Thursday morning.

Lows will be in the low to mid 70s inland and upper 70s at the coast.

The Saharan dust and dry air will continue slowly sliding away from our area Thursday into Friday, but it will be a gradual proces, so don’t expect all areas to get rainfall immediately. 

Instead, we’ll see a gradual increase in scattered storms over the next 48 hours.

Expect a mostly sunny Thursday morning to turn partly cloudy in the afternoon. As the clouds build, it will result in some scattered storms that will linger into the evening.

In the end, the coverage will end up being about 30 to 40 percent.

Highs will be hot, but not quite as hot as recently, topping out in the low to mid 90s.

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Friday will feature more moisture in the atmosphere and therefore a better coverage of scattered storms that afternoon to evening. There will be a 50 percent coverage by the end of the day.

Highs will be in the low 90s.

A much bigger plume of moisture will slide into our atmosphere this weekend. Expect a big increase in cloud cover and scattered storms Saturday, with the coverage likely up to about 60 or 70 percent.

The high pressure that has been near us will finally slide to the east, allowing for more lift in our atmosphere. When combined with the moisture it will lead to numerous storms.

As a result, expect highs a little lower in the upper 80s to near 90.

HERE ARE THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR WEDNESDAY:

BROOKSVILLE                     97 IN 2014 

TAMPA INTERNATIONAL   98 IN 1952 

ST PETERSBURG               97 IN 2010

SARASOTA                           97 IN 2007 

LAKELAND                           97 IN 2010 

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