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Orlando weather: Daily showers amid back-to-school heat wave

By
FOX 35 Orlando
Weather Forecast
Published August 4, 2026 6:43 AM EDT
Published August 4, 2026 6:43 AM EDT

The Brief

    • Central Florida will experience a pattern shift starting Wednesday, pushing daily afternoon storms westward toward the I-75 corridor and leaving eastern coastal areas dry by early evening.
    • Temperatures will climb into the mid-to-upper 90s next week as students return to school, putting 2026 on track to rank among Orlando's top five hottest summers on record.
    • Tropical activity in the Atlantic remains suppressed due to strong wind shear caused by an ongoing El Niño event, keeping development unlikely through mid-month.

ORLANDO, Fla. - In line with typical Central Florida summer weather, we are expecting daily showers and storms across the area. 

There'll be a big change in the pattern starting Wednesday – lasting through Saturday with dominant east to west flow across Florida. The highest daily rain chances are on the western side of the state.

Showers moving in on Wednesday

What we know:

A strong east-to-west flow will develop in the atmosphere Wednesday. 

During the summer, this means daily showers and storms will pop up and move westwards across the state.

For our area, early afternoon or midday showers or storms will appear along the I-95 corridor and will move inland by mid-afternoon. 

These storms are projected to grow bigger, and once west of Orlando, the storms will peak in intensity on the I-75 corridor outside our region.

With this pattern, evenings – around 5 to 6 p.m. – will mostly be dry with storms and showers already exiting our area to the west with the I-95 beach towns and communities driest first.

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Beat the heat

We see a pattern change for heat next week with mid-to-possible-high 90s returning to Central Florida as many schools head back early next week.

2026 is shaping out to be among the top five hottest summers on record around Orlando. FOX 35 will take a closer look at the records next week. 

Tropical Atlantic remains calm

A strong El Niño means significantly lower and fewer tropical systems in the Atlantic compared to normal during Hurricane Season and that will be the case this year.

Some models try and hint at development somewhere out in the Atlantic mid-month. But, candidly, that seems fairly unlikely given the El Niño blasting the basin with strong wind shear. Wind shear rips apart tropical systems before they can even get going and makes it hard for them to form and gather.

The Source: Information in this story was gathered from FOX 35's Noah Bergren. 

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