Rip Current Statement | Florida Weather 6 PM

Good evening! I'm Aaron Jolly. Welcome to the Florida Weather Podcast for Wednesday, February 25th. Folks, this morning parts of the state woke up to 47 degrees. Right now? Seventy two and sunny. A 47 degrees swing since daybreak. Your thermostat didn't malfunction. That actually happened. South Florida is living its best life tonight. Seventy two degrees under crystal clear skies. Lows only dip to 67 with a gentle southeast breeze around 9 miles an hour. Thursday pushes to 76. Gorgeous. Slide up to Central Florida and it's a different bedtime story. Sunny today at 73 degrees, but tonight drops to 47 under mostly clear skies. That's a 47 degrees overnight tumble. Thursday bounces right back to 79 with gusty southwest winds kicking up to 20 miles an hour. Tampa Bay topped out at 70 today. Tonight settles near 50. Thursday climbs to 78 with wall to wall sunshine. North Florida saw 71 degrees this afternoon. Tonight cools to 49 with southwest gusts reaching 18 miles an hour. Thursday warms to 78. Two quick safety notes. Rip currents are dangerous along Palm Beach County beaches through Thursday evening. Stay out of that surf. And wildfire smoke from Collier County may cut visibility on Alligator Alley.. So slow down on I-47 if you're driving that stretch. Now the week ahead tells a story in two acts. Act one runs through Thursday. Warm, sunny, beautiful. Highs pushing upper 70s to low 80s. Act two arrives Friday when a cold front crashes the party. Showers and thunderstorms roll statewide, peaking Saturday before clearing out Sunday. And a fun little reminder.. The spring equinox is just three weeks out. We're gaining almost two minutes of daylight every single day now. You can feel it. Charge your phone and check those beach flags before heading out tomorrow. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.