South Florida, the Keys, will have marginal impacts from Hurricane Rafael

MIAMI – We expect a windy day across South Florida as Hurricane Rafael approaches from the south.

While the worst of Rafael will remain far west of the lower state, South Florida, particularly the Keys, will still experience some minor edge impacts beginning Wednesday afternoon. They will continue into the evening and early Thursday morning.

By Wednesday, the outer bands of Rafael will move into parts of the lower and middle Keys, where a tropical storm warning is still in effect.

These bands will continue to move through the Keys Wednesday night into early Thursday morning. Within these bands, we will need to watch for tropical downpours, gusts to damaging winds, and the threat of isolated tornadoes. In fact, the lower Keys are under a level 2 out of 5 risk of severe weather.

Improvements will begin Thursday afternoon as Rafael moves away from South Florida. Winds will begin to die down and the rain will begin to dissipate, leaving us drier on Friday and Saturday.