A summertime weather pattern emerges

You may have heard that the Florida panhandle was well and truly soaked by inches and inches of rain last week. Since then conditions have improved greatly and the summer vacation season is just around the corner. Santa Rosa Beach is ready and waiting for folks to come and enjoy the beach conditions!

The upcoming weather is looking a lot like summer around here with forecast highs right at 80 degrees and a chance of showers and thunderstorms each afternoon (although the rainfall won't be anywhere near as abundant as last week's!!). That is a typical summertime forecast due to several reasons, one of which is that as spring turns over to summer the intensity of the sunshine increases. This provides atmospheric instability - a necessary ingredient for convection - which reaches a daily maximum during mid-afternoon.

Two other ingredients necessary for afternoon convective storms are moisture and a lifting mechanism (an upward push to the surface air). These two are provided by the sea breeze which itself is also driven by the stronger sunshine. This animation and the diagram below (from a USA Today article) provide visuals of how the sea breeze works:

The sea breeze boundary acts as a faux cold front when it pushes onshore. As this boundary carries cooler and moister air inland it plows underneath the warmer and dryer air. Thus air along the boundary is forced upward and creates the afternoon showers and storms that are typical summertime beach features.

So make plans to c'mon down to Santa Rosa Beach and check out Casablanca on 30A as a place to stay. It's time to forget the never-ending winter of 2014 and warm things up!!