Weather May Have More Pleasant Feel By Mid-Week

By comparison to what we’ve had the past months you might see some more pleasant weather by the middle of the work week.

Forecasters expect drier air to arrive around Wednesday that will slightly drop temperatures and curb the humidity a bit.

The emphasis is on slightly.

Afternoons may be a couple degrees cooler and won’t feel as soggy. The heat index really won’t be much different than the actual temperature, so the comfort level should go up a little.

The change probably will be more noticeable during mornings after Tuesday as lows go into the 60s around Land O’ Lakes.

But closer to the coast, mornings probably will stay in the low 70s through the week and folks won’t see as much drop in the humidity until around Thursday or Friday.

Rain chances fall through the floor to finish the week, going down to about 20 percent or lower. National Weather Service meteorologists said they couldn’t rule out some afternoon rain emerging along the sea breeze any afternoon, but the widespread stuff will take a break.

You also might see some fog popping up each morning before dawn by the middle of the week as temperatures fall just enough to release the moisture trapped in the air.

It won’t stay long past sunrise and there may be enough wind to sweep it away, especially around New Port Richey.

Any fog is more likely to be a bit thicker inland and stay a little longer.

First, though, we’ll see a couple days we’re more familiar with while ample humidity sticks around to perk up storms as the sun gets baking in the afternoons, especially on Monday.

The possibility of rain goes down slightly on Tuesday that becomes a transition between the muggy soup and mildly drier air.

This doesn’t mean an end to summer’s grip on our weather, but a few days of lower humidity and slightly cooler temperatures shows maybe we’re prying one or two fingers loose.

Any break in the summer weather will make it easier to forget about hurricane season’s last two months.

But the season lasts until Nov. 30 for a reason.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are watching two tropical storms, Ophelia and Philippe, though neither will create any threat to the United States mainland, or probably not any speck of land at all.

They both should curve off into the Atlantic Ocean without bothering anyone.

Ophelia probably won’t make it to hurricane strength and may barely hang on to tropical storm status, hurricane forecasters said.

Philippe may become a hurricane, but not much of one as it slowly swirls well east of the Caribbean Sea out near the middle of the Atlantic.

But the fact the tropics are shooting blanks right now doesn’t mean they won’t reload before the end of the hurricane season. Experts still consider the last week in September as part of the season’s busiest period along with a week or so in October.

In 2010, five hurricanes formed after September, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary and Thomas.

And in 2009, a quiet year that saw only nine named storms total, Tropical Storm Henri and Hurricane Ida popped up after Sept. 30.

Ida emerged from the western Caribbean, reached Category 2 strength and hit the northern Gulf coast as a tropical storm, then curved over the Panhandle.