Storms return Saturday night & Sunday morning

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – We’ve got warm and cloudy conditions on the way this weekend, along with thunderstorms Saturday into Sunday morning.

Cloudy skies and some areas of dense fog settle in tonight, with temperatures only falling into the 60s. There’s a small chance for a hit-or-miss shower in Walton or Okaloosa counties overnight, which may be hard to materialize given the warm front is still offshore. That fog will remain a nuisance throughout Saturday, with it being slow to dissipate throughout the morning and then potentially returning to the coast later on in the afternoon.

A cloudy start will make way for a mix and sun and clouds by the afternoon hours on Saturday. As the clouds break a bit, we’ll get temperatures to warm into the mid to upper 70s. Temperatures hinge heavily on the sun, so any extended periods with clouds and/or fog will greatly limit how far into the 70s temps will get in your neighborhood.

The chance of rain will pick up quickly Saturday night thanks to an approaching cold front. Current thinking is that a line of showers and thunderstorms will work quickly across the northern Gulf coast, reaching the Panhandle shortly before midnight and then working across the area from west to east throughout the early morning hours on Sunday. A few of these storms could be strong to severe, with strong straight-line winds and possibly a brief spin-up or small hail possible. The Storm Prediction Center has maintained a marginal risk ( level 1/5) for Northwest Florida during this timeframe, suggesting strong storms will be isolated in our area.

Once the storms move out Sunday, we should be able to squeeze in some nice breezy, sunny, and warm weather Sunday afternoon. We won’t see much of a cool down with this front, and you’ll likely only notice it has passed in the mornings when temps drop a bit cooler in the drier atmosphere. However, heading into 2025, we’ll see a much bigger cool down with highs in the 50s and 60s and lows down into the 30s to wrap up next week.

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