Wet start to the weekend in Naples

Dan Byers has spent more than 30 years on the beaches of North Naples and believes the upcoming Labor Day weekend will be good weather terms.

“If I could give advice to people, it would be you make plans the night before, get up early and get to the beach quickly,” said Byers, owner of Cabana Dans Beach Rentals on Vanderbilt Beach. “I know there will be a lot going on in any weather.”

Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer vacation trilogy, which begins on Memorial Day and includes July 4th. Meteorologists are calling for higher rain probabilities on Friday and Saturday, followed by cooler temperatures on Sunday and Monday.

More:Oddly enough, the rainy season is very close to the average with two months of summer rain

You see: on Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Ruskin, a relatively fresh 72 degrees are expected in Fort Myers.

Of course, it rains on the beaches in southwest Florida, but it doesn’t rain as much along the coast as it does in inland areas like Immokalee and LaBelle.

But Byers saw what meteorologists and data confirm – that due to the prevailing offshore or onshore winds, less rain falls directly along the beaches.

“It’s unfortunate that they don’t predict the coast and then the inland,” Byers said. “If it’s tropical or a frontal border is sloping, the weather is predictable, but in summer there can be heavy rain on Airport Road and nothing on the beach.”

More:Corps is considering raising Lake O levels and sending water south and east to protect Caloosahatchee

The Ruskin office covers the Lee County area north to the Panhandle, and forecasts for Naples are made from the Miami office of the National Weather Service.

“The best chance of rain will be on Friday, and showers and thunderstorms are likely, and then it will be scattered with 30 to 40% coverage for the rest of the weekend,” said Dan Noah of the NWS Ruskin office. “With cloud cover and rain, the high temperatures will be around 90 and the heat index will be in the upper 90s, which is lower than it has been for weeks. We saw a heat index of 105.”

Noah said rain and even waterspouts were more likely on Friday and Saturday.

The chances of rain drop on Sunday and Monday.

More:Southwest Florida anglers, guides are happy that FWC is keeping snook season closed this fall

“The odds are slightly higher east of Interstate (75) and slightly lower on the beaches because the sea breeze pulls inland and moves stable sea air over the beach,” Noah said. “It’s almost like a little drought on the beach.”

Don Harrigan, a meteorologist with the NWS Miami office, said the heat index will drop over the weekend.

He said much of the region had seen a triple-digit heat index.

“Believe it or not, we’re going to get a borderline of showers Friday and Saturday,” said Harrigan. “But Monday should be raining on the east coast, so it should be pretty good in the Naples area. Sunday and Monday will be in the upper 80s to 90 degrees, with the heat index likely in the mid-90s.”

More:Have Florida’s daily rain patterns been thrown off by development and climate change?

Byers said he was looking forward to the holiday weekend.

“Every day I check out the National Weather Services and the Weather Channel and then go outside,” said Byers of his personal daily forecast, which he shares with his crew. “Then let’s talk about the weather.”

Connect with this reporter: @ChadEugene on Twitter.

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