By T.J. Muscaro
TAMPA BAY, Fla.—People looking to celebrate the Fourth of July on the Gulf along Florida’s Peninsula should plan for rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecast maps predicted that most of Florida’s Gulf Coast would experience rainfall and thunderstorms throughout the day on July 4.
“On Thursday, showers and thunderstorms with heavy rain will develop over parts of Florida,” the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) stated on July 2.
“Therefore, the WPC has issued a Slight Risk (level 2/4) of excessive rainfall over parts of the Eastern Gulf Coast from Thursday through Friday morning. The associated heavy rain will create mainly localized areas of flash flooding, with urban areas, roads, small streams, and low-lying areas the most vulnerable.”
A meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay station told The Epoch Times on July 2 that the state’s central Gulf beaches, including St. Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach, were facing a high chance of rain throughout the day.
It won’t be a “washout,” but small thunderstorms are expected to roll in off the water throughout the day.
He said most of the rain should be gone by the time fireworks are set to launch, but more storms could be forming around the evening time near the coast.
The meteorologist said that there was no need for beachgoers to cancel their plans, but they should have a plan in place to pause celebrations and move inside a building or their vehicles to wait for the storm to pass over them, especially if that storm contains lightning.
“If you can see lightning or hear thunder, you are close enough to get struck,” he said, adding that flooded roadways from pockets of heavy rainfall could also pose a problem.
These scattered thunderstorms extend from a cold front sitting in the Gulf just northwest of the Tampa Bay area, which the National Hurricane Center said has a 40 percent chance of forming into a tropical cyclone in the next seven days.
Further up Florida’s coastline, the National Weather Service’s office in Tallahassee told The Epoch Times that the chance of rain along its portion of the Gulf should drop significantly by the Fourth of July, but a risk of daily showers remains.
The Tallahassee office also warned that its beaches were expected to have moderate to high-level rip currents and asked beachgoers to watch the beach flags on display and to talk to the lifeguards if they were uncertain about the conditions.
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service’s New Orleans/Baton Rouge Station in Louisiana and its Houston/Galveston Station in Texas issued warnings for intense heat expected through the weekend, with temperatures reaching the mid-90s in both forecast areas.
