00:00The fire has grown to nearly 26,000 acres with no containment.
00:03Drivers are being warned about the dangerous travel conditions on Alligator Alley this weekend.
00:08We've got winds pushing smoke and ash across the highway, reducing visibility.
00:12Anna?
00:12Something we're going to be watching closely, but we also get some much-needed relief,
00:16at least to start out the weekend.
00:18It's going to help firefighters get things contained.
00:21The rain and thunderstorms we've been talking about since at least yesterday.
00:24They've been pushing south into Florida, starting to get our way into central Florida.
00:29Another round of heavier rainfall.
00:31It's moving into the Tampa Bay area.
00:33Some lightning with this as well, and we have seen some stronger wind gusts,
00:36especially near Jacksonville, 40 to 50 miles an hour.
00:39We're not really looking at much of a severe threat today, like what we saw in Alabama yesterday,
00:44which was still very isolated, but did some damage.
00:47Even had a now-confirmed EF0 tornado, and then straight-line wind damage.
00:54Up to 15 buildings, mainly homes, were damaged,
00:57according to that National Weather Service storm survey.
01:00A lot of this because of trees falling on homes.
01:03Now, tomorrow, we are going to be watching for some isolated severe storms in Florida as well.
01:08Again, not a widespread severe threat, but you want to make sure you're staying weather aware,
01:13specifically if you are in generally this area.
01:16So, tonight, we continue with some widespread heavy downpours.
01:20As we move through Saturday, though, things are going to become more isolated.
01:23Those storms can still pack a punch, especially along the east coast of Florida.
01:27We're in the afternoon now.
01:28We continue to have round after round, but then, as we head into Sunday,
01:32we're going to shift our attention from Florida up into places like Tennessee and the Carolinas.
01:37We will get some rain dropping further south,
01:40but the majority of the action from the same storms Jeff was telling you about
01:44is going to be further north into, again, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
01:48Now, going back to the short term, Florida, here's who's going to get the rain.
01:52Not everybody gets in on it.
01:54You'll notice there's a little cut out.
01:56Though, even if you don't get in on the rain, we at least see relative humidity come up.
02:02That's going to help with the fire threat as well.
02:05However, such significant drought.
02:07100% of the state is under some sort of drought, and much of the state under extreme drought.
02:12That's level four out of five.
02:14So, one round of rain, that's not going to fix the problem.
02:17That means our fire threat, it briefly goes down,
02:21but then we do expect it to increase once again as we go throughout the rest of March.
02:25Our long-range team highlighting limited rainfall,
02:29drought that will just persist and even worsen.
02:31That also increases, of course, the wildfire threat.
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