THURSDAY
The latest high-resolution model runs show that much of the day on Thursday looks to be dry but rain chances will start to creep up during the early afternoon hours. While a shower is not likely before weigh-ins are complete, there will be a very small chance. Nevertheless, it will be a warm and muggy day on the river with plenty of wind. We’ll start off the fishing day with cloudy skies and in the mid-60s and end up with a daytime high in the mid-80s just before the boats pull in to dock. Dewpoints will be in the mid-60s throughout the fishing day and winds will be out of the south at 10-20 MPH with gusts up to 30 MPH possible. The chance of rain is only 20%.
HEADS UP FOR THURSDAY NIGHT
A strong cold front will move through the area during the late night and into the overnight hours that could bring strong to severe storms with the potential for strong to damaging winds and a brief tornado or two. The Storm Prediction Center has the Palatka and Jacksonville areas in a Slight Risk for severe storms (level 2 of 5) for Thursday night and into the pre-dawn hours on Friday. If in the area, be sure to stay weather aware through the night and know where to go just in case your location goes under a tornado warning.
FRIDAY
The rain and storms should be out of the area for the start of the fishing day and clouds will be quickly decreasing through the morning hours. We’ll start with mostly clear skies and in the mid-50s at take off and only make it into the lower 60s for the daytime high. Winds will still be a little breezy out of the west at 10-15 MPH. Dewpoints will be dropping from the upper 40s to the upper 30s. Chance of rain during the fishing day is nearly 0%.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
The weekend looks to be fantastic with not-so-bad temperatures for the winter time with plenty of sunshine. Skies will be sunny on Saturday with temperatures starting off in the lower 40s and rising into the upper 60s for the high. Winds will be out of the northeast at 2-7 MPH. Dewpoints will be on the increase, starting in the mid-30s and rising into the mid-40s.
Sunday will be just a tad warmer with mostly sunny skies. Winds will continue to be out of the northeast at 2-7 MPH and dewpoints will continue on the upward swing from the mid-40s to the mid-50s. We’ll start off in the mid to upper 40s at take-off and top out in the near 70 degrees by the end of the fishing day.
MOON PHASE
For this weekend’s tournament, the moon will be approaching the full moon phase. Here are the moonrise and moonset times for each day.
Thursday: moonset at 4:56 am … moonrise at 3:26 pm … 93.7% illumination
Friday: moonset at 5:54 am … moonrise at 4:29 pm … 98.2% illumination
Saturday: moonset at 6:49 am … moonrise at 5:37 pm … 100.00% illumination
Sunday: moonset at 7:38 am … moonrise at 6:47 pm … 98.2% illumination