Jacksonville, Fl — A few coastal morning showers will shift inland through the afternoon. First Alert Chief Meteorologist Mike Buresh says highs today will be in the mid to upper 80s inland and mid 80s along the coast. We’ll have a moderate to high rip current risk at local beaches today through the weekend. Showers and storms will continue to develop and spread inland through the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday.
TROPICS:
Low pressure is still forecast to develop offshore of the Carolina’s but will fairly quickly turn northeast moving away from the U.S. – no local impacts. A tropical wave over the East Atlantic has long term potential while moving west/northwest then turning more north over the Central Atlantic. Another wave will emerge off the coast of Africa this weekend & has long term potential. A long way out but something to carefully track over the next 10-14 days.
Three Big Things to Know:
- Jacksonville residents could be closer to seeing their property taxes go down. The city council’s Finance Committee met yesterday to discuss the mayor’s budget proposal and voted to cut property taxes by one-eighth of a mill. That’ll amount to almost $13.5 million. The committee also voted to cut $7 million in spending. Mayor Donna Deegan wasn’t happy to see her budget changed like that. She says the committee is cutting services Jacksonville needs to be a world-class city. More cuts could be coming today when the committee meets again.
- Local families are preparing for a change on Monday. Five Duval County schools are reopening as merged schools this year including Southside Estates and Windy Hill Elementary.
- The UN is calling for Israel to immediately halt its planned military takeover of the Gaza Strip. The UN high commissioner for human rights released a statement today saying the military plan “runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible.”
▶ Listen to Jacksonville’s Morning News Interviews
The 11th Careathon presented by Duval Asphalt is in 7 days. Next Friday, August 15, WOKV will deliver stories of hope and encouragement from local children who are fighting cancer, and winning. We will be raising money for the Child Cancer Fund of NE Florida. Learn more about Careathon and consider making a donation.
INDEPTH: The Department of Health and Human Service announced this week that it’s canceling contracts and withdrawing funding for vaccines using mRNA. That has a big impact on studies led by the Jacksonville Center for Clinical Research, which is in the midst of a large study on an oral COVID vaccine that does not use mRNA technology. Dr. Michael Koren, who is director of JCCR, told Jacksonville’s Morning News the HHS decision is unethical for a variety of reasons.