Naples, Fort Myers will see wet Thanksgiving, Black Friday

It's going to be a rainy Thanksgiving Day and gray Black Friday as a cold front that passed through the region today moves back to the north as a warm front. 

Rain chances for Turkey Day for Fort Myers and Naples are as high as 80 percent, and most weather forecasting outlets are calling for the same thing on Friday: steady rain. 

"There may be a little break on Wednesday but on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, rain chances come back up," said Paul Close, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin, which forecasts for the Fort Myers and Lee County area. "(This weather) is highly unusual. It’s typically dry this time of year. We haven’t had a lot of rain on Thanksgiving in the past." 

More:Where to eat Thanksgiving dinner at restaurants in Naples, Bonita and Fort Myers

More:Black Friday arrives early in Naples

More:News For Nerds: Black Friday ain't what is used to be

More:Thanksgiving flights forecast: Mostly smooth sailing

And although the cold front today brought comfortable, cooler air with light breezes, this return trip from the south will bring humidity and more summer-like conditions. 

"It’s going to lift back Tuesday," Close said. "The front is going to stall and will come back north as a warm front and will sit over us as an area of low pressure and will move across the gulf and go across the state on Thanksgiving Day."

This type of weather is odd in that the cold weather front didn't stall to the north of Southwest Florida or move through to the Caribbean. It circled back, more like a tropical storm. 

"Sometimes the cold front makes it all the way through and we just get dry sunny conditions," said Larry Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, which handles NWS forecasts for Naples and Collier County. "So this has had a lingering boundary with moisture from the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico lifting above that boundary." 

Highs will be in the mid-70s with lows in the mid-60s between now and Friday. 

Conditions are expected to clear by the weekend, with mostly sunny skies dominating the region. 

"By Saturday, really Friday night things begin to clear," Kelly said. "And Saturday and Sunday look like a really nice weekend, similar to what we had this past weekend."

Connect with this reporter: Chad Gillis on Twitter.