Rain might dampen SunFest
But ‘it won’t be an all-day soaking,’ forecaster says.
A swirl of showers and thunderstorms near the Bahamas will be moving over South Florida today, increasing the chances of rain and gusty winds for SunFest.
The system, which triggered a special forecast from the National Hurricane Center on Friday, is not expected to develop into a tropical storm but could still mean sustained winds of up to 15 mph with gusts as high as 20 today.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Miami are putting rain chances today at 60 percent, decreasing to 40 percent tonight.
Temperatures will hover near 85 today, making for a potentially steamy day of music at the annual festival in West Palm Beach.
“There may be some heavy downpours occasionally, but the storms will be moving so it won’t be an all-day soaking,” said meteorologist Chris Fisher. “There may be some peaks of sun here and there, but overall, it will be cloudy.”
SunFest opens today at noon with gates closing at 11 p.m. Headliners tonight include 311, Nick Jonas and Rae Sremmurd.
On Sunday, doors again open at noon and close at 9 p.m. Sunday’s forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain during the day, dropping to 30 percent at night.
SunFest goes on rain or shine. No refunds or ticket exchanges are offered because of bad weather. Umbrellas, even beach umbrellas, are allowed in the venue.
Fisher said thunderstorms can’t be ruled out today and Sunday but shouldn’t be widespread.
Rain totals for Palm Beach County through Sunday could be as high as 1 inch in isolated areas.
Hurricane experts have been watching the area of low pressure near the Bahamas for several days, but the NHC was confident Friday that it would not become a tropical system.
Forecasters gave it no chance of development over the 48-hour and 5-day periods.
If it were to develop, it would be named Alberto, and follow a 3-year trend of tropical systems forming before the official June 1 start date of hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Arlene formed in April 2017. In 2016, Hurricane Alex formed in January, followed by Tropical Storm Bonnie spinning up in May. Tropical Storm Ana formed in May 2015.
Storms that form early in the year outside of the deep tropics are not a foreshadowing of a busier hurricane season.
In 2012, two tropical storms occurred in May — Alberto and Beryl. That turned out to be a busy year with 19 named storms and 10 hurricanes. But in 2015 Tropical Storm Ana formed in May, and there were just 11 named storms and four hurricanes.