Weather is nasty in Palm Beach County. Gusts up to 35 mph, rip current warnings, potential flooding

It's December so Palm Beach County can count on unpredictable weather: cold snaps, high humidity, thunderstorms ... anything's possible.

But the windy, rainy conditions that have taken over Palm Beach County and much of Florida's east coast — a system that's expected to last through the weekend — is just a pain.

Holiday displays are being knocked down. People trying to get to their cars after a quick shopping trip to Publix are getting soaked by a sideways, spitting rainfall, and you can't really plan anything outdoors.

Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida are under a wind advisory until Saturday morning, with warnings of winds of 25 mph and gusts of up to 40 mph along the coast. Peak wind gusts for the region are expected today and Friday.

The National Weather Service warns of a high risk of rip currents, surf of up to 7 feet in some areas and overall dangerous marine conditions.

The service also warns that gusty winds could "blow around unsecured objects," tree limbs could be knocked down and some power outages are possible. As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, only 188 Florida, Power and Light customers were without power (out of 783,000 total customers in the county), and it's not clear how many were caused by the weather.

The weather service notes that excessive rains could lead to localized flooding along the east coast of Florida. The threat of thunderstorms and heavy rains is expected to continue through the weekend.

Showers across the region Thursday could drop an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain over grounds already saturated by recent rainfall, meaning that a flood watch will continue for east coast metro areas through the evening.

The good news for Palm Beach County is that it won't get cold air with the blustery conditions. Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid-to-low 70s during the day and in the high 60s at night through Sunday. It's forecast to be a bit chillier Sunday night, with a low of 58 degrees, and temperatures Monday could struggle to reach 70 degrees.

The blustery winds sweeping across Florida are coming from a stationary front over the Florida Straits that's moving northward into South Florida, coupled with high pressure moving eastward over the southeastern United States. Meanwhile, a low-pressure front is expected to form over the Gulf of Mexico and move northeast.

According to the National Weather Service, there is currently rough, choppy surf and a moderate risk of dangerous rip currents from Flagler Beach south, which will get worse toward the end of the week.

"Coastal hazards increase into late-week with hazardous surf (strong rip currents and large breaking waves), as well the potential for minor coastal flooding and beach erosion due to building surf and higher than normal high tides," said NWS meteorologist Jole Fehling.

Rain across portions of Central and South Florida started Tuesday evening and will extend through the weekend. The potential for heavy rainfall across South Florida is expected Thursday, expanding possibly to drench most of east-central Florida on Saturday, Fehling said.

Rainfall amounts up to 5 inches are possible over South Florida's east coast metro areas, the NWS said.

According to AccuWeather, Florida should see "stiff east-to-northeast winds averaging 15-25 mph with gusts from 30-40 mph likely along the Gulf coast, and especially along Florida's Atlantic coast, spanning several days from Wednesday to Saturday."

On the Beaufort scale, which measures wind speeds and damage effects, 30-40 mpg gusts are considered "near gale," putting "whole trees in motion" and creating difficulty in walking against the wind.

Structural damage isn't expected until winds get up to 47-54 mph, but homeowners may want to take care of small loose items in their yards.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida weather: Windy, rain, rip current warnings in West Palm Beach