Skies were mostly clear and northwestern winds funneled cool and dry air on Thursday night over South Florida. Temperatures are set to drop to the 50s.

A week before the Thanksgiving holiday, South Florida is bracing for a chilly blast.

Grab your rain gear -- all eyes are on the big chill headed our way by Friday. A strong cold front will bring a better chance for storms Wednesday before the coldest air of the season arrives by Friday.

Residents and visitors across South Florida are embracing a refreshing change in the weather as cooler temperatures bring a touch of autumn to the region.

South Florida residents are bracing for changing weather this week as the remnants of Tropical Storm Sara, now a moisture-laden system, merge with an advancing cold front.

An Arctic front is coming to South Florida before Thanksgiving and not before Christmas.

South Floridians should expect comfortable weather with low humidity and cooler temperatures this weekend — but Tropical Storm Sara will change that next week.

Tropical Storm Sara formed Thursday afternoon just 50 miles east of Honduras, drifting slowly along the country’s northern coast on Friday, spreading torrential rainfall across not only Honduras, but through Belize, El Salvador, eastern Guatemala, western Nicaragua, and eastern portions of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Sara, a tropical storm on Friday, was forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico. It could start to merge into a cold front and move more east toward Florida.

The disturbance we’ve been tracking through the Caribbean this week was upgraded to Tropical Depression Nineteen Thursday morning off the coast of northern Honduras.

Tropical Depression 19 strengthened into Tropical Storm Sara Thursday afternoon in the western Caribbean. Life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding and mudslides are expected in Honduras through the weekend, the National Hurricane Center reported.

A disturbance tracking south of Jamaica Wednesday morning – designated Invest 99L by the National Hurricane Center – is expected to organize into Tropical Storm Sara over the coming days and could strengthen into a powerful hurricane by this weekend as it hangs about off the coasts of Honduras and Nicaragua.

A significant late-season tropical system is poised to come together later this week and could strengthen into a formidable November hurricane by this weekend or early next week as it meanders in the western Caribbean.

A significant late-season tropical system is poised to come together later this week and could strengthen into a formidable November hurricane by this weekend or early next week as it meanders in the western Caribbean.

With Rafael quickly spinning down over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend – its thunderstorm activity wiped clear by a slug of dry air and hostile wind shear – we’d hope the hurricane season would finally come to its senses and move into its traditional November hibernation, but the Caribbean has other plans.

Rafael re-strengthened overnight to a major Category 3 hurricane over the central Gulf of Mexico, becoming the farthest west a Category 3 or stronger hurricane has been observed during the month of November.